The Mark of Athena
by smileyface9
Summary: After the Greeks and Romans meet, the seven of the prophecy leave on a quest to save the world. They will have to work together to survive, as well as make sure the Roman and Greek camps cooperate. Will they be able to do it in time and defeat their enemy, Gaea, in the end?
1. Annabeth I

**Author's Note:**

**Hi! Thanks for reading. This is my second fanfiction, and I know it is really late to start a Mark of Athena fanfiction, but I'll try my best. This story will probably end after the book comes out, but I will do as much as I can before then.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus or any of the characters. Rick Riordan does. It all belongs to him.**

**Thanks. Please Review! :)**

**Edited: 3/24/13**

* * *

The Mark of Athena

Chapter 1

ANNABETH

* * *

Annabeth was standing next to the railing of the ship with Jason and Piper. She was nervous and was probably going to start sweating if they didn't land soon.

"Is this it?" she asked, pointing to the buildings below. The are looked foggy, probably because the Mist was shielding it, but Annabeth wanted to make sure it was the right place.

Jason nodded, but he was pale, nervous about meeting all of his friends and family that he had not seen for about eight months. He gripped the railing tightly, his eyes shifting from building to building and then to watching the people below.

Annabeth's eyes were fixed on the crowd looking for a familiar face, but since they were at such a high altitude, the people looked more ants to her. As the Argo II approached the ground, her eyes again scanned the rows of awaiting Roman soldiers, but she couldn't find Percy. Her thoughts wandered as she imagined the worst.

_What if he's dead? Or doesn't remember me or anyone else from camp? What if he's injured? Or what if he thinks he's Roman, not a Greek? What if he's... changed?_

That's what had been scaring Annabeth the most lately. The thought that her Seaweed Brain would look the same as he had previously, maybe a little taller, but still the same, and he'd be different. She feared that he'd look exactly the same and act like a stranger... like a Roman. She feared that she'd see those same wonderful sea-green eyes again, but they wouldn't be looking at her, at anyone, in the same carefree way that they had before. He'd still be Percy Jackson, but he wouldn't be the same Percy they all knew.

_No, he couldn't have changed. And if he's not there... he could be at the back. Or asleep, or eating… or he might be on a quest. Sally said she got a call from Percy, who said he was in Alaska, right? He might still be there. Alaska's pretty far away, and he probably didn't fly. Or... maybe I just don't recognize him in the crowd. He could have gotten taller, or be wearing armor like the rest..._

Her thoughts leaped back and forth, and she realized she was arguing with herself.

_But what if he…_

Annabeth mentally face-palmed. If she actually had slapped her face, the other crew members would probably become more worried about her than they already were.

_I'm not a daughter of Aphrodite! I'm a daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom. I'm the official architect of Olympus. I need to suck it up and act like a proper leader. I can't make a scene. I can't make a scene. I can't make a scene…_

She repeated those words in her head, like a ritual chant, and that started to calm her down.

Leo started to descend into the city, but Annabeth stopped him. "There's not enough space! D'you want to crush them all? Go back up!"

The ship quickly jerked back up, and if she hadn't grabbed on to the railing, she would have fallen flat on the deck. Jason was still gripping the railing as tightly as he had before, but Piper hadn't been so lucky. She fell back and groaned, muttering something that Annabeth figured was probably a curse at Leo and his subpar flying skills. She made a mental note to talk to Leo later and tell him to either learn to steer the _Argo II_ better, or at least keep his distance from Piper for a while.

Annabeth smiled and let go of the railing, offering her hand to Piper. The daughter of Aphrodite grabbed it, and Annabeth pulled her up. "Thanks," Piper muttered, aiming a glare in the area where Leo was.

"Annabeth!" Leo called from his position at the wheel. "Where do we land?"

"Um," she began, her eyes sweeping over the Roman camp for an acceptable landing spot. "There?" she pointed to a large field, directing her question to Jason.

Jason shrugged. "Sure."

"LEO!" she yelled, "Land in the big field over there, but first, use the cameras to make sure no one is underneath the ship." He grunted in reply.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and turned to Piper. "You know, out of all of the times I imagined our arrival here, I didn't think of a first impression like this."

Piper laughed. "I know. We were just about to crush their city, and then we pulled back up thinking 'oops' and tried to land somewhere else. They'll probably think we're stupid or something," she commented.

"If anyone's thinking that right now, and some probably are, send them to me, and I'll set them straight. Plus, don't tell Leo, but the ship is awesome. At least they'll be impressed by that... hopefully."

"This is your amazing captain, Leo, speaking. The awesome Argo II designed by yours truly will be landing in 10, 9, 8…" Leo's voice interrupted their conversation.

Annabeth smiled weakly and rolled her eyes, while Piper just sighed. She was irritated with Leo after eight months filled with his annoying comments and jokes.

"4, 3, 2…" Leo's countdown brought her back from her thoughts. "1. And... we're here."

The ship hit the ground with a soft _thud. _Annabeth was surprised. She had expected a worse landing, considering Leo's not-so-amazing flying skills. He was a son of Hephaestus, and could control the ship well, but his ADHD distracted him easily (as well as the various other distractions he'd installed on the ship), and when they had practiced taking off and landing back at Camp Half-Blood, everyone had to hold on to something or fall over. At least this landing hadn't made them look like _complete_ idiots in front of the Romans.

Jason, who had been relatively quiet throughout the journey, paled even more, if that was humanly possible, when he saw the campers approaching the field and the boat.

Annabeth placed her hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay." He turned to her, with worry etched on his face, and smiled slightly before the worry and nervousness replaced it again. "Do you remember the plan?" she asked, turning back into a daughter of Athena.

He nodded. "Yes. I go out, explain it to them, and if that doesn't work, then Piper will talk to them, using only a little bit of charmspeak, just in case one of them notices and thinks we're brainwashing them. Then, if that still doesn't work, you'll come out will Leo, and try to explain it more, and we hope that Percy or Reyna will help us out."

They had learned that Reyna was the other Praetor only recently as a result of Jason's memories returning, but Annabeth had a feeling that Jason had remembered Reyna for a while, and didn't want to tell them something.

She nodded in confirmation, and Leo, who had recently come the railing after landing, said, "Yep." He gulped, staring at the approaching Romans who were hopefully not planning to use their weapons to attack the ship. Piper nodded, showing she understood her part of the plan, and Annabeth sighed. Time to meet the Romans, and hope they didn't have a tradition or something to kill Greeks on sight.

* * *

Jason stepped on to the ground nervously. Annabeth heard some gasps from those realizing that their lost leader had returned… with their enemies, the Greeks.

Annabeth scanned the crowd once again and frowned. She couldn't see Percy, but he still could be at the back.

"Jason," said a strong clear voice from the front of the crowd. The voice belonged to a tall, dark haired girl, with her long hair pushed neatly away from her face in a braid. Her demeanor showed no emotion, and her eyes were hard. She wore a purple toga with medals, and the tattoo on her arm showed four stripes. She had the look of the leader and probably was one. Annabeth guessed that she was Reyna, the Praetor. And what shocked Annabeth even more, was that she recognized her. It was a vague memory that shut itself into the corner of her mind when she tried to pinpoint it, but it was recognition nevertheless.

Jason looked even more nervous than Annabeth felt. "Reyna, nice to see you again." Piper joined Jason on the ground, looking warily at the heavily armed teenagers standing in front of her.

Reyna raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and still showed no emotion.

Jason addressed the crowd and Annabeth noticed that as he did, his nervousness disappeared, and his face morphed into a carefully controlled mask. "When I disappeared eight months ago, I was sent to the Greek camp, and a Greek demigod was sent here as part of an exchange created by Juno, also known as Hera, the queen of the gods. She did this to unite the camps and demigods because we need to work together to defeat a powerful enemy." He glanced at the Romans, and looked like he was about to talk again, but he was interrupted.

"Yes, Jason," Reyna said icily. "We are aware of Juno's-or Hera's, as you may call her- plan. Yesterday, an army, including the giant, Polybotes, attacked us. Percy Jackson, who is the Greek demigod that was sent here, helped us to defeat the enemy, and explained what he knew of the situation." She motioned someone from the back of the crowd to the front, and Percy walked next to Reyna, with a large, Chinese teenager who had a rather babyish face on one side, and a young Roman girl with dark hair on his other side. Annabeth stared at him. _He was alive!_ He had grown a little, but otherwise looked the same, but a little more tired. Actually, he looked a lot more tired. He was wearing a regal purple toga similar to Reyna's, and she realized they had elected him as their Praetor. She smiled at him, but if he noticed her, he didn't show it, making her heart sink again.

"Hello," Percy stuck his hand out, grinning. "I've heard a lot about you. I'm Percy Jackson."

"Jason Grace," he answered coldly, shaking his hand and not returning the smile. _What? Why is he acting like that? _Annabeth thought. Percy's smile disappeared and was replaced with confusion at Jason's tone. After a few seconds, though, Annabeth recognized the jealousy in his eyes and stifled a snicker. Reyna quickly filled the tense moment of silence.

"We hope that you find the Romans and our camp… welcoming. We will not attack or harm the ship or the demigods on it, and we hope you will not fight us either. We know about the quest, and have some other things to discuss. There will be a senate meeting at 5 o'clock and a private meeting tomorrow, which I will discuss later." She turned to the Romans. "DISMISSED! Return to your normal activities, and I expect to show hospitality to the Greek campers who joined us. Hazel, Frank, and Percy, you can stay."

The demigods retreated quickly. But one blond demigod stayed behind. He had a knife and a stuffed animal that was ripped open with the stuffing falling out. That struck Annabeth as very odd, and she'd seen a lot of weird things. But after Reyna glared at him, he just glared back at her and the Greeks, before muttering something and walking off with the rest.

Reyna turned back to face the ship, and Leo and Annabeth hurried down the side and landed on the ground. Annabeth could still see some curious Romans at the edge of the field, slowly walking and watching. Reyna glanced backed at the Romans, and shook her head, before looking at the Greeks and the ship again.

"They are curious as to what is happening. An army that included the giant Polybotes attacked our camp recently. I have explained that the Greeks will help us, but they have not been informed much about the Prophecy of Seven or the quest. I advise you not to talk about it openly until I announce it to the soldiers," Reyna said, addressing the Greeks with obvious authority.

Annabeth glanced at Percy, smiling, but he was staring at the ground with an furious expression. _Does he remember me?_ she thought. _Obviously not; look at the way he's acting. But, he has to remember me, right?_ Annabeth wanted to run up and punch him, and then hug him, but she shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind, focusing on the conversation.

"Well, why don't we introduce ourselves? I am Reyna, daughter of Bellona, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion."

Jason introduced himself after. "Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter, Prae-" he cut off suddenly, realizing he was no longer praetor, and there was another moment of uneasy silence. Then, Leo jumped in.

He grinned. "I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, and head of the Hephaestus cabin at Camp Half-Blood. I also designed, and helped build the amazing Argo II," he said, gesturing to the ship. "I'm the captain," he added, like that was the most important thing in the world. Annabeth and Piper rolled their eyes at him, and he stuck his tongue out at them.

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, head counselor of the Aphrodite cabin," Piper said. Just like Leo had not mentioned his fire abilities, Piper left out the fact that she could charmspeak. There was no need to give the Romans more reasons to attack or kill them.

The other Roman girl Annabeth had seen earlier stepped forward. She had dark skin and black hair and looked quite young, but the most surprising thing about her was her eyes. They were a brilliant, beautiful, and startling gold color. "Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, Fifth Cohort." Annabeth assumed that cohorts were similar to the Greek cabins.

The tall, bulky Chinese kid spoke next. He had a baby face that didn't quite match up with the rest of his body, which looked a bit odd. "Frank Zhang, son of Mars, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort." So he was in the same cabin as Hazel, but was the leader.

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Praetor, and, uh, head of the Poseidon cabin," he added the last part with a small smile, which Annabeth understood. Being the head of the Poseidon cabin wasn't a big deal because he was the only person in the Poseidon cabin. The important thing was just being Poseidon's son, though Percy didn't show off about that. Percy looked at Jason, Piper, and Leo, giving them small smiles, but then dropped his gaze before reaching Annabeth, which made her angry. Why was he ignoring her?It was obvious he remembered camp.

She knew it was time to introduce herself now. "Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, head of Athena Cabin, Official Architect of Olympus," she said confidently. Hazel and Frank grinned at her, which Annabeth didn't understand. Reyna just stared at her, making Annabeth feel uncomfortable.

A surge of shock ran through Annabeth's body as she recognized the teenager in front of her. She had only seen her very briefly, but it was definitely her. "I'm really sorry. I mean it. I shouldn't have... it was very irresponsible and thoughtless of me."

Everyone except she, Reyna, and Percy looked really confused. Those who knew Annabeth were especially perplexed at her sincere apology, since Annabeth usually didn't admit she was in the wrong.

"We can discuss that later," Reyna said stiffly. By now, Leo's confused expression was priceless. Annabeth had to resist the urge to burst out laughing.

"Do you two know each other?" Hazel asked.

"Later, Legionnaire Levesque," Reyna reminded firmly.

Percy quickly looked up at Annabeth, and then off to the side, and he looked sad. _Why does he have anything to be sad about? It looks like he doesn't even remember anything, or anyone. But, still, he did mention being head of the Poseidon cabin, so he must remember something._

Reyna stopped studying Annabeth to address the group. "You have a couple of hours before the senate meeting. I assume most of the Romans will be there, as well, so be prepared. Tomorrow, at ten, I would like all of you to come to my house. It will just be the eight of us, since I feel there are some matters that we need to discuss privately. Percy, Hazel, and Frank, please show them around. I have some business to attend to," she glanced at Jason, her eyes softening a little. She almost smiled, but still maintained her mask of emotions. "Welcome back, Grace."

Leo and Annabeth noticed this, as well as Piper, who glared at Reyna. She either didn't notice or didn't care. Reyna walked off, and the Romans who were watching from afar quickly disappeared back to their activities, leaving the seven of them alone.

Percy looked up, "Let's give you a tour," he said, smiling, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, making it look fake and forced. Annabeth wondered what that was about.

As they walked, they moved around in the group to talk to each other. Percy, however, maintained a good distance between him and Annabeth, which hurt her. He moved to the front of the group, and Leo followed him. After hearing about Percy's quests, Leo had thought Percy was the best thing ever (aside from the Argo II and Festus). It had worn off mostly now, but Leo still thought Percy was pretty awesome. Annabeth could see Leo pestering him, probably asking if the stories back at Camp Half-Blood were true. Now Percy was laughing and smiling for real, not like before.

_Why was he acting like this? Why was he avoiding her?_ she wondered, feeling crushed. He had disappeared for eight months, and everyone at camp, his parents, and Annabeth had nearly gone crazy looking for him. And now he was ignoring her? Annabeth knew she wasn't going to cry, but that wouldn't stop her from being grumpy and really sad.

Frank was talking with Jason, and Hazel with Piper, so Annabeth walked a little quicker to catch up with them.

"Hi, Hazel," Annabeth said walking up to her. Piper was on Hazel's other side.

"Hi!" Hazel exclaimed happily. "It's nice to finally meet you! Percy's been talking non-stop about you. He's starting to drive us crazy."

"What?" Annabeth choked out, "but he's been ignoring me ever since I got here."

Hazel looked surprised and then confused, like she thought Annabeth was imagining things. "Um, never mind," she said quickly, laughing a little forcefully.

Piper gave Annabeth a confused look, which she returned. _What was going on here?_

Hazel started pointing out the buildings and labeling them. Cohorts, Barracks, Principalis, Praetor's houses, stables, latrines, the Little Tiber, and Field of Mars, where they had landed the ship.

Finally, they reached the city that the Argo II had almost landed in earlier.

"Oh my gods," Annabeth breathed, "Just look at it. It's amazing! Look, Piper! I thought I'd never be able to see all of this. That type of building… I've never seen it in person."

Hazel gave Annabeth a weird look and Piper explained, "She absolutely loves architecture. She's obsessed." Hazel smiled and nodded in understanding.

At the border to the city, there was a statue with no arms. "That's Terminus, god of borders," Hazel explained. "He's a little, well, OCD, and doesn't allow weapons to be brought to senate meetings because of, uh, you know, the whole Julius Caesar incident."

"No, no, no. No weapons allowed. Give them to me," Terminus said, addressing the group.

"But you don't have any arms," Piper pointed out.

Apparently she had hit a soft spot. Terminus glared at her, before calling out, "Julia! Julia! I see you! Come over here."

A cute little girl, probably around six years old, ran up to the group. She had her hair in two little pigtails, and smiled at them. She held out a tray that already contained some weapons. "I'm a professional," she said, sounding out the word.

Annabeth glanced at Hazel. "Should we give them to her?"

Hazel nodded, and everyone started handing their weapons to the little girl, some more reluctant than others.

Julia glanced at Percy and then at the girls, "I'm going to be him when I grow up."

Annabeth cocked an eyebrow, and Piper just laughed.

Terminus spoke again. "Hazel, those two rocks are far to close to me. I need to move them to the left. Okay, now a little to the right. Yes, right there, no, back a little, and just forward a little. There, that's perfect," he called out, as Hazel made the adjustments.

He glanced at Jason. "Nice of you to come back, but make sure that your hair is at regulation length."

"Nice to see you, too, Terminus," Jason replied.

"Yes, I expected to be treated with respect, after all, I just helped defeat that annoying giant."

Jason raised an eyebrow, but Hazel replied, "It's true, he did."

That ended the conversation with Terminus, and the group continued moving along into the city. Hazel stopped pointing out building to Piper and Annabeth, because she was marveling and talking about the architecture non-stop to everyone. They passed the temples, gaped at the Mars and Jupiter temples, and said nothing at the toolshed that was the Neptune temple. When Annabeth glanced at Percy, though, he frowned and looked a little sad at the place dedicated to his father's Roman form.

Frank checked his watch. "It's time for the senate meeting. We should go now." The seven turned back around to attend the meeting, and as they came closer, they merged with a large group that was also heading to the Senate meeting.

As soon as Annabeth stepped foot in the building, she was impressed. It was huge, with senators in togas that look like bed sheets. Reyna sat in the center along with Percy, who was still ignoring her. The far side was filled with what looked like most of Camp Jupiter and the residents of the city. The closer side had the people in togas, and Annabeth assumed the empty row was for them.

The Greeks took their seats in the second row behind the senators and waited for the meeting to begin. She looked again at Percy, who was looking everywhere, except at the Greeks

Reyna stood up and cleared her throat, immediately getting the attention of everyone in the room. Annabeth thought, _this girl must be seriously important. Look at all the respect they're giving her. Now only if the demigods and Camp Half-Blood would do that to me… _she grinned and almost laughed out loud right there in the meeting. They would probably never do that at camp. Her thoughts were interrupted when Reyna started to speak. "Senators and campers, as Octavian, our augur, predicted, the demigods from the Greek Camp Half-Blood arrived today along with our lost hero, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

"KILL THEM!" a scrawny blond boy yelled, "KILL THEM BEFORE THEY KILL US!"

"Shut it, Octavian!" Reyna said back before regaining her composure and turning back towards everyone else. "The Greeks will be welcome here because the Roman and Greek gods will it. Juno, also known as Hera, took a hero from each camp and switched them. She brought Percy Jackson from the Greek camp to here. She also took Jason Grace to the Greek camp. She then wiped both of their memories. She did this for one main reason: If the two heroes lost their memories and were able to get along with learn the ways of the other camp, then when their memories returned, they could unite the camps to fight a common enemy. That enemy is Mother Earth, or Gaea. I believe that the uniting of the camps should work if Juno wishes it, and that is why the Greeks are welcome here," she finished, giving a glare to the Octavian kid.

"How do you know all of this? Are you a Greek spy, a traitor?" he spat out.

Reyna glared daggers. "Did you not see Percy carry Juno into camp when he arrived? Mars himself requested for the Quest to Alaska and gave a prophecy, and the quest succeeded. And Percy was on that quest. He returned the legion's lost eagle, and helped defeat the army who attacked. And the Greeks haven't tried to harm us since they've arrived." Octavian promptly sat back down.

Annabeth felt like standing up and clapping. She really liked this Reyna girl. Maybe they could be friends. Well, at least after she yelled at Percy. It sounded like he had done a lot of stupid stuff since he went missing and arrived here.

"Well, they came in a warship. How do we know that they won't try to kill us?" Octavian retorted.

"You fool, three Greeks arrived today, even if they tried, they would lose with four of them and two hundred of us," Reyna snapped.

Octavian frowned but continued. "Four? I believe Jason is Roman, and Percy is our Praetor. Surely, he would fight with us." He paused for effect and looked at Percy and Jason. "Anyway, why did you—Greeks—try to land in the middle of our city? I think your ship is a tiny bit too big. Were you trying to kill us by crushing our population?"

Leo looked like he was about to kill Octavian, but Annabeth put her hand on his arm to calm him down. He glared at her, shook her hand off, and continued staring at Octavian furiously.

Reyna sighed. "Does anyone else have a problem with the Greek campers staying until the seven spoken of in the prophecy leave? The prophecy says that seven Romans and Greeks will unite to defeat Gaea, who, along with the giants, is rising. That is why camp was attacked. Does anyone have anything else to say?"

Annabeth stood up, slightly nervous with all the strangers staring at her, some of who might like nothing more than to kill her. "When we were building the Argo II, we planned to first come here and then stop back at Camp-Half Blood before sailing for Rome and Greece. We also figured that not only the seven demigods on the quest, but the entirety or at least majority of both camps had to cooperate with each other. However, the ship does not have the capacity to hold very many people, but it can hold some campers if they want to go to the other camp. If campers need to travel between camps, then we will need to find another means of transportation."

Reyna stood up again to reply, but Octavian butted in. "Why would we take Romans to help your camp? You would probably take that as your chance to attack us. You probably figured if you could trick us into weakening our defenses, then you could destroy our camp. If you want to unite the camps so badly why didn't you bring the Greeks here and leave your camp undefended?"

Annabeth sighed. This kid, who actually was older than her, was a good speaker, but now he was getting really annoying. "You almost tried to kill us when we brought three Greeks and Jason Grace. If we had brought anymore you probably would have attacked us. First you complained about three of us just being here, and now you are asking why didn't we bring _more_ Greek demigods with us?"

He finally looked beaten, and sat down, sulking.

Reyna stared at her in shock like she had just made her day or even week. Annabeth smiled at her and then Reyna addressed the Senate meeting. "Anyone who would be to go back to the Greek camp whenever necessary, sign up with me. Sadly, I will be staying. Also, our camp augur, Octavian, will stay also, to help – er – protect the camp." Annabeth knew that she had said that so he couldn't try and sign up for the trip and create trouble. Again, she thought that this girl was a genius and that she really needed to thank her.

Only Reyna, Octavian, and Annabeth had spoken during the meeting. The senators, audience, Jason, and Percy hadn't said anything.

As Jason led them out of the beautiful senate meeting room and back out into the city, New Rome, Annabeth was still looking through the crowds of people exiting with her and the people in the city. She hadn't spoken to him yet.

Jason ushered Leo, Piper, and Annabeth to a small building next to the mess hall. "This is the Fifth Cohort Barracks. You three will be sleeping here. Piper and Annabeth, you go through the first door on the right and you can sleep in any empty bunk. Leo, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping. Dinner is in three hours. You can sleep until then or walk around. Hey… it looks like some memories about the camp are coming back!"

Jason grinned and he and Leo wandered off farther down the hall, and Annabeth dropped the backpack she had brought on the empty bed next to the one that Piper had claimed. She rolled onto the bed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep, praying to all the gods she knew that the demigods wouldn't break into all-out war the next day.


	2. Percy II

**Author's Note: This is what I think (and hope) will happen in The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO. Rick Riordan owns both series and the characters. **

**Thanks for reading! Please Review! Pretty please! :) It means a lot to me! :) And, by the way, I'll try to update on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but that may change, depending on if I can write chapters that fast.**

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CHAPTER 2

PERCY

* * *

Reyna warned him over and over when the Greeks arrived, he was not allowed to go crazy. No matter who was on the ship, he had to sit back and relax, acting like a perfect little Roman praetor. When the ship landed and the Greeks arrived, he sulked. Reyna had said that he should stay away from them for the first day. Her reason was that if Percy went up to them immediately, Octavian would accuse him of conspiring with them against Rome. Which was a bunch of baloney in his opinion, but Reyna scared him, so he listened. He was disappointed to only recognize Annabeth. He was really glad that she came, but no one else he knew had bothered to come. He had been gone for eight months and when they were tracking him down, he had disobeyed their order to stay and had gone to Alaska. Which wasn't his fault. Juno had kidnapped him and Mars ordered that he go on the quest.

His thoughts were interrupted when Reyna elbowed him. "It's over. Let's go."

They walked back to the Praetorian Houses after the meeting. He badly wanted to go to Annabeth, but followed Reyna's orders. He thought that Annabeth hadn't recognized him earlier because she'd never seen him in a purple toga. And he probably looked a little different from his appearance during winter break.

The Praetorian houses were two little houses joined by a little grassy garden area. They were next to the Via Principalis. Percy hadn't been sleeping there, though. Jason's stuff was there and he felt like he was intruding. He had been sleeping in the Fifth Cohort barracks, and he was going to continue to do that, no matter what Reyna said about him being the Praetor and needing to do certain things. Sleeping in the house of a guy he barely knew, whose life had been switched with his own… Percy decided to pass on that,

Reyna looked at him. "You can visit them tomorrow after the meeting. I just didn't want you to make a fool of yourself in front of Octavian and the senate."

"Whatever," he mumbled.

She sighed. "Anyway, do you remember the people that arrived with Jason?"

"My memory is back, but I think Leo and Piper are new – I've never seen them before. But yeah, I, um—know Annabeth." As he said the last bit, he blushed a little, which definitely did _not_ go unnoticed by Reyna.

She raised her eyebrows, but changed the subject. "Are you glad that you're going back, going to see your friends and family… and then leave for the quest?"

"Yeah," he said, "I mean, it will be a little weird going on a huge quest with some people that I've just met, but Jason, Leo, and Piper seem nice. I haven't met them though, thanks to someone," he said, glaring at Reyna.

She shrugged. "Yeah, the quest will be… interesting."

"You want to go, don't you?" he asked, "Like, on the quest."

"Maybe… what I mean is that Romans and Greeks, natural enemies, working together on a quest would be an interesting scene to watch. They have different skills and ideals, fighting styles, battle tactics, and ways of life. I would like to see how that works out, but I can't, " she said wistfully.

"Why can't you? You want to go," Percy said.

"Yeah… but I have a feeling I shouldn't and that I'm not part of the quest. Plus, the camp needs me," she said.

They arrived at the Praetorian houses. The next day, he would have to tell Jason that the house was still his and he could have his position as Praetor back.

For a while he thought about seeing Annabeth again soon and then his mom, Paul, Grover, Rachel, Chiron, and everyone else from New York. His parents would be worried sick by now. Good thing he called his mom from Alaska.

"Well… bye," he said.

She nodded. " Bye," and walked to her door.

As he walked to the Fifth Cohort barracks, Percy could feel his eyes closing already. He really needed a good night's sleep. After the quest and the battle and the Greeks' arrival, he was tired… like really tired.

When he crept into the boys' room, everyone was already there, including Frank, Jason, and Leo. Ignoring their stares, he crawled into his bunk, his eyes closing quickly. He prayed to all the gods he knew, Roman and Greek alike, to have a nice, dreamless sleep that night, followed by a few peaceful days.

* * *

Apparently, the gods weren't on his side. As he fell asleep, he was again subject to dreams. Demigod dreams.

"Don't worry, I won't keep you for long," came a soft, malicious, coaxing voice, which Percy recognized as Gaea's.

Percy was standing in a dark cave, but every few seconds it turned into the places he loved most: the two camps, the beach and water, and his mom's apartment, before going back to the cave.

"You can keep all of this, when you join me, of course." The voice reverberated throughout the room, seemingly coming from nowhere.

"Uh-huh, yeah, sure. I just helped defeat two giants, and now I'm going to join their side," Percy said, sarcastic as ever.

Gaea laughed evilly, chilling him to the bone. "Fine, young hero. I gave you your chance. Now, I'll just have to do it… the hard way. You don't have a choice in this. You will be my pawn no matter what."

"Never. I will never join you."

"Oh but you will, young demigod. You are already mad at the gods: Hera ripped you out of your life, Poseidon doesn't really care about you, or none of this would have happened, Zeus would have you killed, and Ares would too. Athena and Hades hate you, Dionysus thinks of you as nuisance, Apollo, Hermes, Artemis, and Hephaestus don't mine about whatever happens to you, and Aphrodite is just toying with you. Using you as entertainment. They all use you. It would only take a little to turn you. Jason, now he would be harder. He's the _real_ hero."

"NO!" he screamed, anger and jealously bubbling up inside of him, even more so when he realized that Gaea was right. The gods do use their heroes. But still, he would fight for his friends, for the gods. "No, I won't. You can't make me join you. Ever."

Gaea sighed. "Oh, you make this so easy for me, really." She laughed. "Let me… show you something." The room around Percy disappeared, replaced with horrifying visions. "This could be the future, but you may prevent it… if you join me."

Lying before Percy was his mom and Paul, on the floor of their apartment, slowly dying. His mom uttered one word, "Percy," before their eyes closed. Tears started streaming down his cheeks, and the vision was replaced with Chiron, looking his actual age, dying in the Big House at Camp Half-Blood.

"STOP! NO!" Percy screamed furiously, still crying.

Gaea laughed, a cold, heartless, deep laugh. "This is not the end, Perseus Jackson. You will be my pawn. Your fatal flaw _will be fatal_."

"No," he whispered, "no."

* * *

Percy woke up with Gaea's laughter still echoing inside of his head. He had been sweating like crazy and tumbled out of bed. Rubbing his arm, he got up, and checked the time. 5:00 A.M. He might as well stay awake.

Breakfast wouldn't be for a while, so he changed, and set out to train. He was busy murdering training dummies with Riptide, and didn't notice anyone coming up behind him.

"Hi," the voice startled Percy, and he whipped around, his sword at Jason's throat.

"Sorry," Percy muttered, lowering the blade. "Old habits die hard."

"It's okay. It's time for breakfast," Jason said, turning away quickly, his eyes as cold as ice. Percy raised an eyebrow and was about to make a sarcastic comment, but he thought before he said it, unusual for him, and decided he should stay quiet. He capped Riptide and followed Jason to eat, wondering what he had done to make Jason dislike him.

When they arrived at the dining area, a lot of people were there already, and Percy realized how long he had been practicing for. He turned red as people turned to him, muttering. Octavian's comments weren't so quiet though, and Percy head him say. "See, our Greek _Praetor_ couldn't even bother to come to breakfast on time." Percy glared at Octavian, before joining Reyna at the Praetor's table.

She looked at him, like 'where were you?' before addressing the crowd. "Okay," she said, glancing at Percy, "The Greek visitors will be sitting at a Fifth Cohort table along with the Praetors, though they can still leave and move to other tables. I also encourage anyone who wants to sit with them to sit with them. But no fighting, I mean it." She glared at Octavian, and some members of the first cohort, emphasizing it.

She walked off to a Fifth Cohort table, and Percy followed her, leaving the Romans to continue their conversations. They sat at the table where Annabeth, Leo, Piper, and Jason were sitting, along with Frank and Hazel. Percy ended up across from Annabeth, but didn't say much, because Reyna still didn't want him to make a scene. Whatever.

Dakota came up to the table, but Gwen was not present, since she was in the university at that time. He grinned and sat down next to Jason. His lips were stained red.

"I'm Dakota," he introduced himself. Leo, Piper, and Annabeth waved and said 'hi'.

"Are you—are you drinking—wine?" Leo asked incredulously, pointing to Dakota.

Dakota just grinned, drinking some more, but Jason answered. "It's Kool-Aid, right?"

"Yep, so I guess you're remembering stuff."

"I guess so. Nice to see you again," Jason said.

"Well," said Dakota, "I'll leave you guys to talk about Jupiter knows what."

Some thunder rumbled overhead, and Percy just rolled his eyes, but everyone else looked a little worried.

"Oops," Dakota said, "Sorry." He stumbled as he got up, and Jason steadied him. He took another couple swigs of Kool-Aid and staggered off to another table.

"Anyways…" Piper started, turning back to the table.

"So, Percy," Jason said, "has your memory returned? I assumed that Juno, I mean, Hera, took it from you."

"Yeah, she took it," he said, and then muttered something at the sky in Ancient Greek.

Thunder rumbled overhead again and Percy grinned, turning back to the conversation. "But its, um, all back."

"All of it?" Jason asked.

Percy nodded. "Pretty much. There are still a few fuzzy memories, though."

"How did it come back?" Jason questioned.

"I drank some gorgon's blood on the quest," Percy explained.

"What?" Annabeth asked. "Why?" She looked like she was about to smack him, but then thought better of it. He smiled at her, which made her look confused, which just made Percy even more confused than he already was.

"What quest?" Jason asked, clearing the awkward moment.

"How about we talk about this at the meeting? Let's eat," interrupted Reyna.

Everyone's favorite foods and drinks were served, and they dug in. There wasn't much conversation, so Percy didn't mention his dream. He could tell them later, and anyway, it was probably not that important. Demigods get weird dreams all of the time, and the others probably had dreams from Gaea, too.

Percy sat back in his chair, feeling full, and examined the people at the table. Hazel was looking at Leo weirdly, and so was Frank. Percy knew why. Sammy Valdez had been Hazel's _friend_ seventy years ago, before she died, and Leo looked just like him. Leo's last name was also the same: Valdez. That couldn't be a coincidence.

Reyna was focused on eating her food, but every once in a while she would look at Jason, with an odd look on her face.

Piper was a bit cautious and stiff, and was eating quietly, but she seemed especially uncomfortable around Reyna. It was strange, but not entirely out of place. Reyna could be pretty intimidating and scary.

Jason was looking around, and Percy recognized his expression. It was how he had felt when memories started flooding back and disappearing, staying just out of reach. He probably just had a huge headache right now.

Annabeth's eyes were flickering between Frank, Hazel, and Reyna, probably analyzing them. Every once in a while, he caught her staring at him, and he was about to open his mouth, but quickly shut it again, like a fish, and settled for a glare in Reyna's direction. Who cares if he made a scene? He certainly didn't. The silence between him and Annabeth was killing him.

All in all, it was an extremely awkward meal, and there was a lot of tension, as the eight ate.

When it was over, Reyna spoke to the others. "There is still a little time before our little meeting. Feel free to roam around the camp or city until it starts." The Roman soldiers started leaving to move on to their next activities. Reyna, Frank, and Hazel also left, leaving the four Greeks and Jason at the table. He quickly followed after Reyna, and Piper seemed a little sad at that.

"Annabeth, can I talk to you?" Percy asked.

Annabeth stared at him, and said a little bit suspiciously, "Sure."

Piper and Leo looked at each other and took that as their cue to leave and quickly followed the others outside.

"So…"


	3. Annabeth, Jason III

**Author's Note: I'm back and it's Saturday. This chapter is really long... anyway, thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you think of the story, so I know what to fix or do better, and what I'm doing well. And, if you find any mistakes, just tell me, and I'll try to fix them.** **Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO or any of the characters in both series. Rick Riordan does!**

**(Edited 3/17/13)**

* * *

Chapter 3

ANNABETH

* * *

Annabeth was surprised when Percy asked to talk to her. Actually, she wasn't really surprised, mostly confused. He acted like he didn't know or remember her, but he told Jason that he got most of his memory back already.

"So…" he started.

"SO?" she exclaimed, "that's all you have to say, 'so'?"

Percy squirmed a little as she glared at him, but she continued. "You went missing for eight months and drove us crazy with worry. Do you know how worried your mom and Paul were? How worried the camp was? How worried _I_ was?"

"Well, why don't you tell that to Hera? I didn't _ask _to be part of her little Greek/Roman exchange program," Percy retorted.

She bit her lip. This is not how she had thought it would be. "Fine, but you said that you remember almost everything, so why were you ignoring me? After eight months or searching for you, you had the _nerve_ to _ignore me_," Annabeth said.

Percy nervously took a step back, but Annabeth just stepped forward.

"Reyna, she—she um—told me to…" Percy stammered out.

"She told you to? How does she have _anything_ to do with this?" Annabeth said, her eyes glinting dangerously.

"The Romans don't really, you know, do public displays of affection, so Reyna wanted me to wait to see you, so that I didn't make a scene. Because then Octavian wouls probably claim that we are, um—like, emotionally unstable, or something, and that will just give him more of an excuse to try to kill us," Percy said, eyes slightly widened at Annabeth's reaction.

_Good_, she thought, _he should be scared_.

Annabeth stepped forward so she was right in front of him. "That. Is. A. _Horrible_ excuse." She punched on the arm, not too hard, but it wasn't exactly light, either.

"Ow," he said rubbing his arm a little.

"That hurt? But, the Styx," Annabeth said, surprised, most of her anger melting away.

"It washed off when I entered the Little Tiber. I couldn't have a Greek blessing in the Roman camp," Percy explained, still a little nervous.

"What other stupid things have you done?" she asked, smiling a little. "Wait, never mind; don't answer that."

Annabeth closed the distance and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. She pressed her lips to his, and finally, this was the reunion she'd imagined (and yes, she had thought about it). The quest didn't seem to matter, and she couldn't help but smile into it.

She felt happier than she had thought possible previously. Annabeth felt like she could stay there forever

She pulled back, and realizing how much she had missed him, her eyes misted over. She blinked it away, refusing to cry. "Don't ever do that again, or I will kill you. I missed you, Seaweed Brain. So much."

Percy pulled back a little, too, smiling. "I missed you too. You were all that I remembered."

Annabeth just about melted on the spot (again), but managed to pull herself together. His words repeated in her mind, and she stared into his sea-green eyes, grinning like a maniac.

"We should get going. It's almost ten, and they'll wonder where we are," Percy said grabbing her hand and squeezing it. She squeezed it back and smiled, walking with him to Reyna's house.

"You should really call your mom. She's really worried about you," Annabeth said, remembering how Sally must be feeling.

"I already called her… from Alaska," Percy admitted. "I just remembered her phone number."

"So that's where you went… Alaska? Of all the places to go to, you chose Alaska, the land beyond the gods? Oh, Seaweed Brain, it seems like there will be a lot of things to talk about at the meeting," Annabeth said. "Come on."

JASON

Jason knocked on Reyna's door. It was almost 10 o'clock anyway. He might as well come in now.

"Come in," a voice called. He entered the house. He found himself in a small hallway. He knew the layout because his old house was the same. The door to the left was a bathroom, on the right was a bedroom, and at the end of the hall was a small sitting room. The door on the far left led to a small grassy area that was shared with the other praetor. He didn't have many memories of it, but it was clean, neat, and orderly. It didn't look like there were many personal belongings, so it was a little bare.

"In here," a voice called from the room at the end of the hall. Jason entered. It had a table at one side with chairs all around, and a couch at the other side. It was pretty small though, so it might be cramped when everyone got there.

Reyna was sitting on the couch, reading something. Jason joined her, peering at what was in her hand. She noticed, and pulled it away.

"What are you reading?" Jason asked.

"Nothing, it's just praetor stuff," she said, putting it away in a bag.

"So I'm not allowed to see it?" he asked.

"You're not praetor anymore," she said harshly.

"Are you mad at me or something? What happened? Are you okay?" he questioned. Immediately, he regretted saying anything.

She turned to face him, giving him an icy glare. "I'm fine. I just had to handle the Praetorship single-handedly for eight months, while keeping Octavian in place and quiet and away from a position of more power." She said this while showing no emotion, her face unreadable.

"Well, um—er," Jason started.

"Don't stammer," she snapped. Jason laughed, and Reyna cracked a smile, barely. She rarely smiled, giving everyone the idea that she was way older than her actual age. The smile quickly disappeared though, and her face became a mask again.

They heard a knock, and Reyna got up quickly. "I'll get it."

Reyna confused Jason… a lot. And she was scary.

Reyna walked back in, followed by everyone else. She sat at the head of the table, with Percy across from her. Annabeth was next to Percy, and Piper, and Leo next to her. Jason sat next to Reyna, and Frank and Hazel sat in the other two seats.

"So," Annabeth said, taking charge, much to the dislike of Reyna, "It seems like we have a lot to talk about. How about we start by telling each other about what happened recently."

Reyna nodded, in approval. "I think that would be a good idea."

Annabeth's mouth curved into a smile, and Jason had to stop himself from laughing. Of course it was a good idea; it was Annabeth's. Being a daughter of Athena, she always had good ideas. Not that he would tell Reyna that.

Annabeth explained how Percy went missing, and then they found Jason, Piper, and Leo at the wilderness school. "Jason?" she asked. "Do you want to tell the rest?"

So he started telling them about Festus, and how he crashed, and King Midas and Lit, and the Cyclopes, and Khione, Medea, Boreas, Aeolus, and Mellie. He told them of their defeat of Enceladus, though he left out the part about Piper's dad. If she wanted to tell them, she would. It wasn't his business to tell them. He also left out the part about Thalia being his sister, because he could say that later, if he wanted. He left out Piper's charmspeaking abilities, and Leo's fire usage, because those were their secrets, so he ended up editing some part of the quest. Like the part where he saw Hera's true form, and Piper charmspoke him out of the dead. He finally described them freeing Hera, and how for the next eight months they built the Argo II.

Finally, when he finished, Percy grinned, and muttered, "Gods, Gaea is so annoying," which promptly made everyone, except for Reyna, who just smiled, burst into laughter.

"Guess it's my turn," he said. He explained how he was asleep for six months, and woke up with no memory. He turned a little red when he said that, so Jason definitely did not believe him. He told them about how Lupa sent him to Camp Jupiter, and the monsters that wouldn't die kept on attacking him. He explained how Juno and Mars came to camp, and meeting Hylla and the Amazons and Iris and the giant's army. He told them about Arion becoming Hazel's horse, and Thanatos being chained, and going to Canada and Alaska. He paused, and Hazel and Frank filled in on how they freed Thanatos and destroyed Alcyoneus in Canada. Percy then continued on saying how he fell off the Hubbard Glacier, and then met up with Frank and Hazel, and went to camp. He described the camp fighting monsters from the army, while he challenged Polybotes, and finally he used Terminus's head to destroy the giant. He looked like he was about to say something else, but he shut his mouth again, giving the story a rather abrupt end.

"But how did you get your memory back? You said you would tell us," Jason said.

"Well, when the gorgons who were chasing me to camp, were destroyed, they left a spoil of war. Two vials of gorgon blood were left. One was from the right side, one from the left. One would kill whoever drank it and the other would heal the drinker. So, we were told to seek out Phineas the blind seer in Portland, Oregon, because he could tell us where Alcyoneus was in Alaska because otherwise it would take us forever to find him. Phineas can't see the immediate future, though, so he likes gambles. So, I made a gamble. We would both drink a vial. If I died, Frank and Hazel would leave in peace, and Phineas would have his sight back. He would write the location beforehand so if he died, we would take it and leave. It was a 50/50 chance, but Gaea had called me her pawn earlier, and I knew she wouldn't want me to die… yet…. so she led Phineas, her servant, to the vial that would kill him. I lived, regained my memories, and we set off for Alaska."

"Stupid Seaweed Brain, you could've gotten yourself killed," Annabeth muttered, whacking him on the arm. Percy stuck his tongue out at her, and she rolled her eyes back at him and smiled. In all the time Jason had known her, she hadn't smiled much at all.

From across the table Leo mouthed '_What's wrong with Annabeth'_ very visibly with a lot of hand gestures.

Annabeth noticed. "Valdez," she said, her voice sounding dangerous. She pulled out her dagger and fingered it before threateningly putting it on the table.

"Sorry," Leo squeaked, making Annabeth grin.

"Well, I'm thirsty now. I think I talked too much," Percy said, getting up from the table.

Before he left, Hazel said something to him, which Jason didn't understand. He only heard two words, "Nico" and "Ella." Who was Ella? And did she mean Nico di Angelo?

Percy's grin disappeared and was replaced with a frown, and he said, "Maybe later," before leaving the room.

"What was that about?" Jason asked, as Hazel sat back down.

"Huh?" she said, looking at Jason. "Er—nothing, its nothing."

"Hazel," Reyna warned.

"He'll tell you—uh later…" Hazel trailed off, looking down at her hands uncomfortably. Reyna continued to stare at her, which just made Hazel fidget more.

"So," Frank said, breaking the silence. "Who will be the seven on the quest?"

Percy, who had entered the room and was standing behind them with a cup of water, spoke up. "Gods, I know I'm slow, but isn't it obvious?" He walked back to his seat. "Jason, Piper, Leo, me, Frank, and Hazel."

"Why me and Leo?" Piper asked.

"You were the two that accompanied Jason when he switched camps, and Frank and Hazel went with me. Jason and I are the one's who Hera switched, so I figured we would be the six," Percy said.

"That was surprisingly smart for you. Wow, maybe you have changed," Annabeth said, laughing.

"Thanks," Percy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Anyway, that's six, who's the seventh?" Annabeth asked.

"Who's Ella? And why were you talking about Nico?" Jason asked.

"Um…Nico is missing," Hazel said quickly, looking uncomfortable.

"You know Nico? Nico di Angelo? How?" Annabeth asked, a little confused, but then her face cleared. "Oh, I'm so going to kill him…"

"Nico's her sister, son of Pluto, and the ambassador of Pluto," Reyna said, "He comes and goes, whenever he wants."

"No, he's a son of Hades, and we found him when he was ten years old with his sister, Bianca, who—who died later. He shows up at camp once in a while and leaves, never staying in one place for long. Now we know where he goes—I'm so going to kill him, when we save his sorry butt from Gaea," Percy said.

"From who?" Annabeth asked, looking shocked.

Hazel sighed. "Apparently, he went looking for the Doors of Death, and was captured by Gaea. We think he's in Rome."

Annabeth groaned. "So he knew where Percy and Jason were—this whole time, and he didn't say a word?"

"Looks like we'll need to have a _talk_ with a certain son of Hades once we find him," Percy muttered darkly.

"It's not his fault," Hazel protested, "he probably couldn't tell anyone, so that he wouldn't ruin Hera's exchange."

"Anyway," Jason said, bringing up something that was still on his mind. "Who is Ella? And who's going to be the seventh quest member?"

"Well," Hazel explained, avoiding the second question, "Ella's is a harpy that was cursed, so she could only eat food from Phineas's table, but whenever she tried to, or whenever any of the other harpies tried to take food, he would hit them with weed whacker."

Annabeth nodded, "But why is she important?"

"Ella can read books. And apparently, she memorized some books of prophecy, the Sibylline books or something, we think. Anyway, she knows some important prophecies. So, people like Octavian would think she's really valuable," Frank said.

"Where did she learn how to read?" Annabeth asked.

"We don't know," Hazel answered. "Maybe she taught herself how."

"But still, who's the seventh?" Jason asked again.

"Well, we kind of have and idea. You see, Ella recited part of a prophecy earlier," Hazel said.

She looked to Percy, who sighed. "Ella said: _Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome_." He glared at the ceiling, like everything was its entire fault.

"That could mean anything, right?" Hazel asked, nervously.

"The only daughter of Athena here is Annabeth, and I have a feeling that it is her," Reyna said. She had been relatively quiet the whole time, thinking carefully.

"But don't you want to go? You said so yourself," Percy asked.

"No. I'm not supposed to go. I have a feeling that Annabeth should go," Reyna said, more firmly this time, but still sad, like she was thinking everyone at the table would die.

"Annabeth, what do you think? You don't have to go… I mean with all that's happened, just in the past year…" Percy said.

"No. I think I should go. I had a dream from Athena, and she was talking about something, I didn't understand it then, but I do now. I just wish that everything didn't have to happen so fast. First Kronos, and now Gaea. Chiron even said it wouldn't be for like 70 years. Can't they give us a break? I don't want anyone else to die," Annabeth muttered. By the end of her little rant, she was looking pretty sad.

"It's okay," Percy murmured putting his hand on her arm to calm her down.

She smiled faintly and scooted her chair a little closer to his.

Leo grinned and raised an eyebrow, probably thinking something like '_what is going on here?'_ Jason almost laughed, but kept his mouth shut. He settled for a shrug and grinned back at Leo.

"I can still see you, Valdez," Annabeth grumbled, "and you too, Grace."

Leo and Jason wiped the grins off their faces, much to the amusement of the rest, who bit back a laugh.

"So, the seven of the prophecy will be Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Annabeth Chase, Hazel Levesque, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, and Piper McLean," Reyna said.

"Woah, how did you remember everyone's last names?" Leo asked.

"That's not the point, Repair Boy," Piper said, punching him on the shoulder and rolling her eyes.

"So we will have the Senate meeting at 5 o'clock to tell the Romans of this," Reyna said, "I'll announce it later."

"I don't think Octavian and his followers will like that at all," Jason said, thinking of the people who were to go on the quest.

"What?" Percy asked.

"There are three Romans and four Greeks going. He'll claim that the Greeks will try to kill us. So, he'll try to put someone else into Annabeth's spot," Jason explained impatiently.

"Why don't we tell him that Ella recited the prophecy, and it mentioned a daughter of Athena," Piper suggested.

"We can't tell him about Ella. But we could tell him that Rachel said it," Annabeth said.

"Rachel?" Hazel asked.

"The oracle at Camp-Half Blood," Annabeth said.

"Oh," was Hazel's reply, but she still looked a little confused.

"But she didn't say the prophecy, right?" Percy asked.

"No, she didn't, Seaweed Brain," she said, punching him lightly.

He stuck his tongue out at her again, and she rolled her eyes.

"Um, hello—prophecy, remember that?" Leo said, waving at Percy and Annabeth.

Turning red, Annabeth continued. "Yeah, um, right. She didn't say it, but we could ah, call her, and tell her the prophecy, and then during the meeting, Iris Message her, and have her say it in front of Octavian and the whole senate."

Leo grinned. "So, we could… bend the truth a little."

Annabeth smiled. "Exactly. Anyone have a drachma?"

"A what?" Frank asked, confused.

"Drachma… it's like Roman denarii," Percy explained.

"I think I have one," Piper said, reaching into the pocket of her jeans. "Here," she said, handing it to Annabeth.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked, motioning to his water.

"Oh, okay," Percy tossed the water into the air, and before it fell, he stared at it, and the water wobbled, staying in the air until it turned into mist. It wouldn't be the best Iris Message, but it would do.

"I guess that will work," Annabeth grumbled, glaring at Percy.

"Sheesh," he said, "I did my best."

"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Oracle, Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said, ignoring Percy. She tossed the drachma into the awkward rainbow they had made.

Suddenly, a slightly fuzzy picture of a redhead scribbling something with Sharpie on her jeans came up. Jason had seen Rachel before, and she had always struck him as rather odd.

"Woah," Frank echoed, staring at it in wonder.

"Rachel," Annabeth called.

The girl's head snapped up, and she grinned when she saw them, capping the Sharpie, and dropping it on the ground.

"Hi, Annabeth. Percy! Nice of you to show up! Don't go missing again, please. You drove us almost crazy when you just disappeared like that. Especially Ms. Daughter of Athena over there," she said, nodding her head to Annabeth.

Annabeth blushed. "Anyway, Rachel…" she started.

She explained how Rachel should Iris Message them around 5:30 and say she just received part of a prophecy, and then tell it to them. They weren't lying, just telling the Romans that Rachel said it, not Ella. But if Octavian found out, he would have the Romans attack and arrest the seven and Reyna.

"So, what's the prophecy again?" Rachel asked.

Annabeth repeated it, and Rachel uncapped her Sharpie and scribbled it down on one of the free spaces on her jeans.

"Ok," Rachel said, once she'd finished, "Is that it?"

Annabeth nodded. "Bye Rachel."

"Bye, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Jason, and—everyone else who's there. Bye, Percy, and don't do anything too stupid," Rachel grinned, and waved her hand through the mist, cutting of the connection.

"Have you ever seen an Iris Message before?" Annabeth asked, looking at Frank, Hazel, and Reyna.

"Yeah," Hazel said, "When we met Iris, she talked with Frank, but Fleecy, the cloud nymph talked with Percy and I, and we tried to Iris-Message Annabeth, but it didn't work. So, Fleecy told us her direct number, and I said 'O, Fleecy do me a solid' and we contacted Reyna."

"That was not nice," Reyna mumbled, "I was in the baths, you nearly scared me out of my mind."

Hazel smiled weakly.

"Why was Iris talking to Frank?" Annabeth asked.

"She needed to uh—tell me something, and I think Fleecy wanted to give Percy some green tea and wheat germ," Frank finished awkwardly.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I'm not even going to ask."

"So, the senate meeting will be at 5," Reyna said.

"Why couldn't we have had just one senate meeting?" Jason asked. He didn't like senate meetings. Talking was Octavian's domain.

"Because," Reyna said, directing a glare at him, "That meeting was just to allow you to stay, and this is to approve a quest. Also, I wanted to have that meeting right after you came, and I wanted us to discuss everything before we proposed the quest to the Senate."

Jason just looked away from Reyna's cold glare, and kept his mouth shut.

"Okay," Reyna said. "You should all join cohorts for the day. May I suggest not choosing the First Cohort? You'll all need the training. Any other questions?"

"Um, yes," Piper said, hesitantly. "Why did Annabeth apologize to you earlier? You don't know each other, so…"

Reyna stiffened, pushing herself to the back of her chair. Annabeth bit her lip, and Percy looked down uncomfortable. The tension in the room seemed to be multiplying each second. What was going on?

Reyna sighed, and spoke. "I—before I came to Camp Jupiter, I worked at Circe's Island with my sister, Hylla, who is now Queen of the Amazons. One day, four years, ago… we got some… ah, visitors." She paused at the end and leaned back in her chair, looking at Annabeth.

"Those _visitors_ were Percy and me," Annabeth continued. "We were in the Sea of Monsters, looking for our friend Grover, who was trapped on Polyphemus's island there, and that's also where the Golden Fleece was, which we needed to save camp's magical borders. Anyway, that's another story. We came upon Circe's Island, and Percy and I were separated, and he was left with Circe. When I came back, he was a guinea pig." Annabeth grinned at that, and Percy groaned.

"A _what_?" Leo asked incredulously.

_ I wonder what it would be like to be a guinea pig,_ Jason thought._ That must have been a pretty weird experience, even for a demigod._

"A guinea pig. Circe turns all men and boys who come to her island into guinea pigs. It used to be pigs, but times are changing. Anyways, I used the multivitamins Hermes gave us, and dumped the contents into the guinea pig cage, and everyone turned human. It wasn't just Percy… there were others in that cage—Blackbeard and other pirates. They got set free, and Percy and I took their ship to escape, leaving the island burning," Annabeth finished. "I'm sorry," she added, speaking to Reyna.

She sighed. "It's okay. I'm here now, and without you, Hylla and I would probably still be working on that horrible island. But now, I'm praetor of Camp Jupiter, and she is Queen of the Amazons."

Annabeth nodded, but still looked ashamed and guilty. "Hylla was the one who greeted us on the island, and I saw you later on, right?"

Reyna nodded stiffly. "After you left, they burned the island down and took some of us captive, including my sister and I. We managed to escape their ship later, but it was horrible. At least we're here now, though."

Hazel and Frank looked shocked, and Leo was just tinkering with something.

"Why did Hermes give you vitamins?" Leo asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but she was stiff and sad, and Jason knew Leo had spoken of a touchy subject.

"Reasons," Percy said.

"Okay…." Leo said, obviously confused.

"Oh," Piper said. "Well, thanks for telling us, Reyna."

Reyna glared at her for a second, but quickly looked away.

Jason was surprised. That wasn't like Reyna. He barely knew anything about her past, and she didn't like to tell people about herself or share her feelings, and here she was, confessing everything to a room full of demigods, some of whom she just met, or had met very recently. _I guess even she can change, _he thought, shaking his head.

"What?" Reyna's voice snapped Jason out of his thoughts.

"Hm?" Jason said, looking at her.

"You were shaking your head," she said impatiently.

"Oh, um, its—its nothing," he stammered out.

Reyna raised an eyebrow and did not look convinced at all, but she kept quiet about it. "Well," she said. "I really do have to leave. Remember to assign yourselves a cohort for the day. Lunch will be ready soon; we've been talking here for quite a whilte. See you at the Senate House at 5."

She got up and left the room, leaving the seven of the prophecy together.

"Well, I'm in the fifth cohort, and so is Hazel and Frank," Percy said.

"I thought you were Praetor," Jason said, his eyes narrowing. The position of Praetor was taken very seriously for Romans, and Jason did not like that Percy was treating it like nothing. It had taken him forever to get the position of Praetor.

"Barely. I've only been Praetor since we got back from the quest, on the Feast of Fortuna," Percy explained, "Anyway, Reyna said _all_ of us need the training."

Jason sighed. "Well, I'm in the Fifth, too. Where do you guys want to go?"

Annabeth, Leo, and Piper grinned.

"Well, then let's go invade the Fifth," Percy said.

As they walked out of Reyna's house, Jason felt his jealousy towards Percy rise. It sounded like they had done so much more on their quest. They had defeated two giants, met Reyna's sister, and saved Camp Jupiter in less than a week. Plus, Percy had replaced him, and had gone from Probatio to Praetor less than five days after he came to camp.

Some of the campers had described his earlier quests, though it had been an awkward subject to talk about while Percy had been missing.

Jason couldn't help comparing himself to Percy, and he felt that some of his friends even compared them, and that every time, Percy came out on top. Percy had replaced him as leader of Camp Jupiter, even though Percy was still the leader of Camp-Half Blood. It just wasn't fair.

_ Stop it!_ He yelled at himself. _You sound like a spoiled two year-old! You defeated the Titan Krios with your bare hands, and you were the Praetor of Camp Jupiter! Percy is not better than you!_

It was weird, giving himself a mental pep talk about such a silly thing, but he was a demigod, and demigods have a weird standard of normal. Jason had done stranger things in his life.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when someone elbowed him. "You okay?" Piper asked, looking at him worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said absentmindedly.

"Sure, and Drew's my best friend," Piper said sarcastically, "If you want to talk about something, then you can just tell me."

"Okay," he said stiffly, but when he didn't say anything else, Piper just walkd ahead to catch up with Hazel, Leo, and Frank.

Jason realized that he had trailed off from the rest of the group, and he jogged to catch up with them again.

"So," he heard Annabeth say, "Time to join the Romans."


	4. Percy IV

**Author's Note: This is the longest chapter yet! It's over 5,000 words. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review and tell me what you think of the story and if you think I should continue this or not. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for the real Mark of Athena to come out. And by the way, I know it's late, but it's still Tuesday right now!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO or any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns that.**

* * *

Chapter 4

PERCY

* * *

Percy's head was spinning. Everything had happened so quickly after the Greeks had arrived, and his old memories were stronger than ever, giving him a huge headache. Plus, he hadn't forgotten the dream from the night before, and it was still bothering him, though he was trying to hide it.

As he led the others to the Fifth Cohort, Annabeth started a conversation.

"So," she said, "How does it feel being the Praetor? I still can't believe they put you in a position of power. Do they want the camp to crash and burn?"

She grinned at the end, and Percy acted like he was very offended.

"Well," he said grinning, "someone's being immature."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"We're here," he announced. The Fifth Cohort was training, and didn't notice them coming in. They were in pairs, scattered around, fighting like their lives depended on it.

"Er—okay," Annabeth said, "So we just… fight?"

Percy shrugged. "I guess so. I haven't been here that long." He grinned at her. "I bet that I could beat you."

"In your dreams, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.

Leo and Piper paired off to spar, and Hazel and Frank did, also. Jason wandered off, probably to catch up with some of his old friends.

"Hello?" Annabeth said, waving her hand in front of Percy's face. "Earth to Seaweed Brain."

"Hm?" He looked back at her.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yeah, oh sure," he said. Annabeth took out her knife, and Percy uncapped Riptide, catching the attention of Leo and Piper nearby.

"Wow," Piper said, staring at it.

"Cool!" Leo exclaimed, "Can I get one of those, too? Does it write?"

Percy sighed. "Nope, its one of a kind, sorry, Leo."

Leo looked a little disappointed, but resumed his fight with Piper.

"So," Annabeth said, thrusting her knife at him. Percy easily dodged, and tried disarming her, but she just dodged and grinned.

"You really thought that would work?" she asked.

"No," Percy said, "but it was worth a shot. You never know what could happen." They were now circling each other, with their weapons out, watching each other warily.

Annabeth smirked, and lunged, but Percy jumped out of the way in time, predicting her move. He struck to her side, but she blocked it and backed away. He was about to lunge in again, when he froze.

'_So young, so foolish,'_ a voice said in his head. The voice sounded as old as time, and Percy recognized it immediately. Gaea.

'_Yes, fool. I will warn you once last time. This is your last chance to come to me willingly. I could have killed you before. Come to me. You are the reason that your friends will die. Come to me, and they will live. You will be the cause of their destruction otherwise.'_

Percy could fuzzily see Annabeth's mouth moving, and her staring at him worriedly, and people starting to crowd around, but Gaea's long talk had sucked the energy out of him for some reason. He felt weak, like he was about to collapse.

"No," Percy whispered. It was inaudible, but Gaea got the message.

A cold, merciless laugh filled his head. _'Well, that is your choice, demigod. Their fate is now your fault. Prepare to see your friends die… because of you.'_

That was the last thing Percy heard before everything blacked out.

_Am I dead? _He thought. _This isn't DOA recording studios, though._

Percy was in a pure white room, and a figure shimmered into view in front of him. It was Percy's father, Poseidon. He looked just like Percy remembered, but more worried. This was the first time he had seen his father, in a while. A really long time. The gods had gone silent, hadn't they? So why had Poseidon suddenly shown up now, especially after all that had happened to Percy recently.

As Poseidon's eyes rested on Percy, he looked even more worried, if that was possible. His eyes grew sad, and he uttered two words to Percy, the same message that he had received so many years ago from his father.

"Brace yourself."

* * *

Percy's eyes snapped open. He shot up, but realized how much his whole body hurt and groaned, gently lying back down. He rubbed his eyes slowly, and observed his surroundings. He was in a small, white room, with one bed next to him, the other was the one he was occupying. He assumed that he was in one of the Camp's Infirmary rooms. Annabeth was asleep in a chair next to his bed, and there was no one else in the room.

"Annabeth?" he whispered, looking over toward her.

She jumped awake. "Percy!" She leaned over and gave him a hug, and retreated quickly when she heard a muffled _ow_.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed.

"What happened?" he asked, slowly sitting up.

"I could ask you that. We had just started sword fighting, not even for that long, and you just froze for a minute. I tried to talk to you, and snap you out of it, but you stayed like that, and then everyone started crowding around, and then you whispered, 'no' and passed out. We were so worried. _I_ was so worried, and then Jason, Frank, and I helped get you here. You've been out for a while. It's 4:30."

"What?" Percy asked weakly. He groaned and slouched into the bed.

"What happened, though? Why did you freeze?"

Percy did not want to tell anyone about Gaea, so he stretched the truth. "My dad said something to me. It was the same message that he told me three years ago, before Thalia appeared."

Annabeth nodded, urging him to continue, but Percy's ADHD mind had a different idea.

"Wow," he said, "was it really only three years ago? But I've had three quests, and one war since then, and—"

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed. "What did Poseidon say?"

"Oh, right. He said 'Brace yourself.' That means something big is going to happen."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Is that all he said?"

Percy nodded. "Ugh, the gods go silent, and when one of them finally says something, they tell us two words? We already know something big is going to happen. Gaea!"

Percy sighed. He really didn't want to worry her anymore and tell her about the dreams, so he kept quiet.

Annabeth noticed the sigh, though. "Is that all that happened? No ,ore demigod dreams, no other messages?" she asked skeptically.

"No…" Percy said, but he knew Annabeth wasn't convinced. She knew when he was lying. He also was just a really bad liar.

"Percy," Annabeth warned.

"There was nothing else," he snapped angrily. She looked slightly taken aback.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm just tired. Is the Senate Meeting still happening?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah. If you're not too tired, you can go, too. It's in twenty minutes, I think."

"Okay," Percy was still feeling numb and tired. "I'll just sit around here until then."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, probably thinking that he would be out of there as soon as she left. She was right.

She took that as her cue to leave. "Okay, I'll tell the others that you're up and that you're coming. You should tell them about the message, though. Later, after the Senate meeting."

Percy nodded, and Annabeth got up, squeezed his arm, and smiled, then walked away, leaving Percy alone with his thoughts. He got up and starting walking slowly around the room, thinking. Maybe Annabeth was rubbing off on him.

He didn't dare tell anyone about the dreams; who knows what Gaea would do to them then. And even though he didn't want to listen to Gaea, Percy had a nagging feeling that she was right. Gaea would try her hardest to make Percy her pawn, and just by being there, he was putting his friends in danger. But he couldn't leave his friends, could he? That would make them even more worried and distracted.

He sighed and sat back down. He was still tired. It felt like just Gaea's dreams were sapping his energy, so he couldn't imagine what it would be like when she got more powerful. He looked at the clock. 4:55. _Shoot!_ He thought. _Now I have to get to that stupid Senate meeting._

He sighed again and walked out of the room. No one was around, probably because they had already arrived at the Senate House.

Percy sped up his walking a little, not wanting to be late, but he started panting, and had to slow back down. What was happening? He used to be able to do way more without even breaking a sweat, and now he felt like going to sleep after a little walk.

When he reached the city limits, Terminus interrupted him "No weapons! And make sure your hair is at regulation length, or you'll be measuring every single blade of grass here!"

"Fine," Percy snapped. Julia came running towards them with her tray full of weapons, and Percy put his pen on top of the pile. He didn't know how the little girl could carry all of that.

"Well, someone doesn't look very happy," Terminus said. "Now, leave. See? I'm shooing you away."

Percy wasn't in the mood to put up with Terminus, so he replied, "You don't have hands, Terminus."

"Well," Terminus said, "that is no way to treat the _god _who just helped you defeat a giant. But, I will let it go, because—" Thunder rumbled in the sky, and Terminus stopped. "Well, just because. Now, Julia, shoo him away."

Julia grinned at Percy, and dutifully put down her tray. She made a shooing motion at Percy until he walked away. When Percy looked back, she picked up the heavy tray and ran away.

Percy smiled weakly, and continued until he reached the Senate House. He was probably late, but he didn't care. He was tired, and sweating, and felt like taking a nice, long nap.

When he entered the building, everyone was there. Like, _everyone_. One side was filled with residents of the city and some campers, and in the front row were Jason, Annabeth, Leo, and Piper. On the other side, were the rest of the Romans, a few ex-soldiers that started college recently, and the senators. Reyna was sitting in one of the Praetor chairs, tapping her foot impatiently, and Octavian was standing near her, with a knife and stuffed animal in his hands, smirking.

Everyone's attention turned to Percy, probably because he was the Praetor and late, and also because he looked half-dead.

"Look who's decided to show up," Octavian muttered, just loud enough for Percy to hear.

Percy shot him a glare, before sitting next to Reyna.

"What happened to you?" she whispered, actually sounding worried.

"Nothing," he sighed. He knew that people were staring at him, and he did his best to ignore it.

"So," Reyna began. The beginning of the Senate meeting passed in a blur. All that Percy knew was that Reyna had convinced everyone that Annabeth was the seventh demigod of the prophecy. Rachel had come through and Iris-Messaged the prophecy to the senate.

He zoned back into the conversation when he heard his name mentioned. He realized that he had been falling asleep.

"Percy!" he heard Reyna say exasperatedly.

"What?" He said, looking up. He ignored the giggles he heard.

"Percy," she said, obviously very annoyed. "We were asking you when you think we should leave. Because you should take part in the meetings, as Praetor."

"We have to leave immediately," he said quickly, surprising everyone. "I have a feeling—that something big is going to happen soon. So, leaving as soon as possible would be good. Like, sometime today or tomorrow."

"Okay," Reyna said slowly, "I agree. The Greeks will stay here tonight, and eat with us, and can leave tomorrow morning, around breakfast. We will also have War Games tonight, a _friendly_ game." She emphasized the last part, glaring at the First Cohort and Octavian.

Some nodded, while Percy heard others grumbling.

"Wait!" Octavian said, breaking in. "I vote that they leave immediately. Right now. They are a threat to us, and look, they have already turned our two noble praetors to their side. They have fallen under their spell! And, soon we will too! KILL THE GRAECUS!" Several others nodded in consent, mainly Roman soldiers from the First Cohort.

Reyna stood up slowly, facing the crowd. "I have not fallen under their spell and neither has Percy. It is dishonorable of a Roman soldier to even accuse their Praetors of that in front of a crowd without proof. You're not dishonorable are you, Octavian?"

"No, of course not. I am a loyal Roman soldier. I simply read the auguries after the Graecus arrived, and they say that the Greeks will betray us. As our Praetor, you should do something about that," Octavia replied, smirking again.

Percy rolled his eyes. Octavian was so annoying. There was so much more important stuff going one, and he just didn't understand.

"Octavian, the Greeks have given us no reason to doubt their intentions. They have come in peace and haven't attacked us. Juno and Mars have visited us since Percy arrived, and the Greeks' oracle just told us a prophecy about the Mark of Athena. Athena is a Greek Goddess. So, I believe that we need the help of the Greeks to defeat whatever evil is stirring. As Praetor, as you have mentioned, I will not deny their help because of your auguries. Your auguries can be wrong. I will not put the Camp and City, soldiers and citizens, in a place of danger because you fear that the Greeks may betray us. They have been loyal and peaceful so far, and I respect their intentions. Since I am your Praetor, as you have mentioned many times before, you will respect them too. And I expect you, as well as everyone else, to be unsuspecting of the Greeks and treat them fairly for the duration of their stay." Reyna only addressed Octavian, and looked at him the whole time, except for at the very end.

She turned back to the crowd. "All in favor?" All of the senators, including Octavian raised, raised their hands. He probably just didn't want to make himself look bad by being the only person who didn't agree.

"Fine then, dismissed," Reyna said, nodding her head to the crowd and leaving. The crowd dispersed, muttering to themselves and glancing at the Greeks every once in a while, like they thought they would bust out swords and knives and start attacking.

Annabeth came running up. Piper, Leo, Jason, Hazel, and Frank followed a little behind her. "Percy, what happened? You look horrible."

"Thanks, Annabeth," Percy muttered sarcastically.

"Seriously, what happened?" she looked really worried, and the others looked a little worried also, but mostly curious.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Stop worrying," Percy muttered, annoyed with all of the attention.

"Percy, its not _nothing_," she persisted. "You look like you just ran ten miles. What did you do?"

"Nothing," he explained. "I did absolutely _nothing._ I walked around in the room a little, and then I walked here."

"Then why do you look so tired?" Leo piped up.

Percy rolled his eyes. "I don't know," and in a quieter tone, he added, "why don't you ask Gaea?"

Annabeth's sharp ears caught part of the last sentence. Her eyebrows shot up. "What was that you just said?"

Percy sighed. "I told you. Nothing."

He picked up the pace, even though it tired him out a lot, and walked ahead of the other six. It was true; he hadn't done anything. He didn't know why the short walk had tired him out like a fight with a Titan. He hoped that they would stop pestering him about it, but Frank and Hazel caught up with him again.

"Percy, we know you're not fine. She's just worried about you. You really freaked her out when you just collapsed like that earlier," Hazel said.

"I honestly don't know what happened. It was a message—from Poseidon. He told me to brace myself. And the last time he said that, one of my friends, Thalia, daughter of Zeus, turned back into a human from a pine tree. So, something big is about to happen, but we already know that. Gaea is stirring. The prophecy has started," Percy replied, calmly explaining everything to his friends despite the fatigue. He had already started panting again, and he felt his face turning red.

"Oh—kay," Frank said slowly, "but, then, why did you pass out? Why would your own dad do that?"

"Er—I don't know… maybe—maybe, like, it was a mistake or something?" Percy's voice got a little higher towards the end, and he knew his friends suspected he was leaving something out.

"Yeah, sure," Frank said sarcasticalli, "and I'm the most popular kid at camp."

Hazel rolled her eyes, and swatted him lightly, causing a smile to flash across Percy's face, but it disappeared just as quickly. That wasn't like him.

"I'm going to take a nap because I'm really tired. So, could you wake me up before dinner?" Percy asked, barely even looking at Hazel and Frank as he addressed them.

"Sure, Percy," Hazel said, looking at him worriedly.

Percy walked ahead as fast as he could, though his legs felt like collapsing.

As he left, he heard Frank and Hazel talking to each other hurriedly before they were out of earshot.

He walked to the Fifth Barracks, and crashed on his bunk, and even though it was harder than he would, he really didn't care. He immediately drifted off into a pleasant, and surprisingly dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Percy," a voice called him awake. Out of habit, Percy jumped up and uncapped Riptide and had it at the person's throat before he was fully awake.

He blinked a few times, adjusting his eyes to the light, and turned red when he saw with sword at a very surprised Jason's throat.

"Oh," Percy said, said, stepping away hastily and capping the sword. "Sorry."

Jason stepped back also. "It's okay. Hazel told me to wake you up. It's time for dinner."

"Thanks," Percy said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Jason turned away, and Percy heard him mumble, "Last time I wake him up."

He grinned and followed Jason out of the room.

Percy remembered that just earlier in the day, he had been following Jason to breakfast. Wow, they had crammed a lot into one day.

He stumbled into dinner and surprisingly wasn't late. The Greeks and the Fifth Cohort were there, along with Reyna, Octavian, and some from the other Cohorts, but not everyone had arrived yet.

"So," Percy mumbled, sitting down at a table that had the seven of the prophecy. "What did you guys do today?"

"Training," Piper answered, "but some of the people here are crazy." She glanced over at Octavian as she finished, and everyone grinned.

"Are you ready for War Games?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Percy said. "I'm feeling way better than before. Not as tired."

"That's good. You seemed a bit—out of it, before," Annabeth said, like she was picking each word out carefully.

"I guess that's one way you could say it," Percy said, grinning. He really did feel better than before. The dreamless sleep seemed to have given him back all the energy that the talk with Gaea had taken out of him.

"Are you going to play, though? You're praetor now," Hazel said. Percy noticed that Jason tensed as she said the last sentence. So, that was it. Jason was jealous that Percy had replaced him as Praetor.

"Well, I don't know, I haven't been Praetor long, and I think I should train if we're going to leave on a quest soon. Jason, if you want, you can be Praetor again," Percy said.

Jason looked taken aback. "Well, we can decide that if—when we get back. There's no point if we're leaving tomorrow. We can both participate today, and Reyna can referee on her own, if that's okay for her."

"She's been doing it for eight months. I don' think it matters," Hazel said, and as soon as she said it, she turned red and bit her lip, like she was trying to take it back.

Jason tensed again, and then slouched back into the couch and sighed.

"Sorry," Hazel apologized. "Sorry, Jason, it's not you fault."

"It isn't. It's Hera's—Juno's—whatever," Annabeth glared at the sky, mumbling at her least favorite goddess. Thunder rumbled overhead, and everyone laughed as Annabeth's face turned a dark shade of red.

"Don't make her hate you even more. Do you want more of those gifts from her?" Percy said, laughing. He had remembered the little 'gifts' Hera sometimes dropped off for Annabeth.

"Don't remind me, please. She's stopped recently," Annabeth groaned, glancing up at the sky like she expected the cow manure to drop onto the table.

"What gifts? If she hates you, why would she give you gifts? And why does she hate you?" Piper asked.

"Well, you see, Hera and Annabeth, don't exactly get along. So, Hera sometimes sends Annabeth presents," Percy explained.

"What type of presents?" Leo asked curiously.

Annabeth glared at Percy, telling him to stop, but he continued anyway. "You know, cow manure. Hera leaves it all over the place for her."

She turned red, and Leo started laughing like crazy. "She really did that?"

Annabeth nodded miserably, and then her face hardened again. "Now, stop laughing Valdez, or I'll introduce you to my knife." Percy guessed that she meant it to be a serious threat, but by the end, she was grinning at Leo's horrified expression.

"Let's eat," Hazel said, a little nervously.

"Yeah, eating. That's fun," Frank said, hurriedly stuffing food into his mouth.

Percy grinned, but they all started eating. It stayed like that for a while, but the silence at the table was a little uncomfortable.

"So, is it First and Second against Third, Fourth, Fifth and us?" Percy asked.

His question was met by more awkward silence, which was weird.

"Um, hello?" Percy asked, waving his hand.

"Well, actually, Percy," Annabeth said, "Octavian kind of convinced everyone that since we are part of the prophecy, we should be able to fight against everyone else."

"What?" Percy spluttered, staring at her. "The seven of us against two hundred of them?"

"Yeah," Annabeth admitted.

"When did that happen?" he asked.

"Er—when you were unconscious," Annabeth explained.

"Oh…well this should be fun," Percy said, grinning.

"Why are you—happy?" Leo asked, "There's like two hundred of them."

"As I remember, there were forty demigods, the Hunters, and some satyrs and nature spirits against Kronos and his army last summer," Percy said. "This should be a piece of cake. We're seven of the most powerful demigods of our generation. Besides maybe Thalia and Nico. But don't tell them I said that."

Annabeth grinned. "Oh, don't worry, Seaweed Brain. I'll tell them."

"Great," Percy muttered, "Thalia's ego is just going to get bigger."

"Did I hear my name?" A girl's voice called.

Annabeth snapped her head to the area where the voice was coming from. "THALIA!" she let out a girlish squeak that was not like her at all.

Percy looked behind himself and saw a girl with dark, spiky hair, dressed in the clothes of a Hunter. She had a silver bracelet on her wrist that Percy knew would turn into her shield, Aegis.

Annabeth got up from the table and ran over to her best friend and gave her a huge hug.

"Hey," Thalia grinned.

Percy was amused that Thalia hadn't noticed him yet, so he crept over to the other side of the table, to the seat in the corner, to see how long it would take her to notice.

"What are you doing?" Hazel asked.

"Don't tell her that I'm here," Percy responded.

"So," Percy heard Annabeth say, "How long have you been here? Are the hunters here? How did you get here? How did you find this place?"

"I just got here. The hunters are at Camp. And we hunters have our ways. We can't give away all our secrets," Thalia said, "Well, Artemis told me to come here."

"Okay," Annabeth just seemed to realize that people were staring. She dragged Thalia to the table where Reyna was sitting.

"Reyna, this is Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, Hunter of Artemis. Thalia, this is Reyna, she's the daughter of Bellona, and the Praetor here," Annabeth said.

Reyna stood up and cocked an eyebrow, probably recognizing the last name. "Well, it is—good to meet you. Though, may I ask, why are you here?"

"Lady Artemis sent me here. I'm not sure why, though," Thalia replied.

"SEE! MORE GRAECUS HAVE COME! THEY WILL KILL US!" Octavian screeched, pointing at Thalia.

Thalia whipped herself around, spotting Octavian, who had stood up and now was pointing at her and brandishing a knife and stuffed panda.

Percy grinned. This he wanted to see.

"What?" Thalia spluttered incredulously. "Me. Kill you? I didn't even know you existed thirty seconds ago. I didn't even know this camp existed until recently. Why on earth would I come here to kill you?"

"NO! The Graecus are here to kill us! Why else would you be here?" Octavian demanded.

Thalia laughed. "If I had wanted to kill you, you would have been dead ten minutes ago. Did you not hear me? Lady Artemis sent me here, so unless you want to accuse Lady Artemis, you shouldn't accuse me either. So, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to say hello to my brother, Jason Grace, and my friends, the Greeks."

That was news to Percy. He never knew that Thalia even had a sibling. He glanced at Jason. They didn't look much alike, but they had the same eyes. That was about it. Thalia was Greek though, and Jason was Roman. So… he'd have to ask them about that later.

Thalia marched away from Reyna and Octavian, and the conversations around them slowly resumed, though Octavian, Percy noticed, was sulking and muttering to himself.

She walked right over to their table and gave Jason a huge hug.

"Long time, no see, little brother," she said.

"What? I look older than you," Jason protested.

"Only because I'm immortal," Thalia said. "Now where's the stupid son of Poseidon we've been looking for?"

Percy grinned. "Right here," he said, nearly giving her a heart attack. She jumped over the table and gave him a hug.

"What happened to no hugging boys?" Percy joked.

She whacked him on his head in response. "So, I see that you've gotten your memory back. Don't you dare do that again, or I will hunt you down personally, kill you, go to the Underworld and kill you again, before dragging your sorry self back out here to save the world."

"Good to see you too, Pinecone Face," Percy muttered. Thalia sat down next to him on the couch, with Annabeth on her other side.

She grabbed some food and started eating, ignoring them

Annabeth grinned and coughed, getting her attention.

"What?" Thalia said, "I'm hungry."

She rolled her eyes, "Why are you here?"

"Didn't I just tell you? I don't know. Artemis sent me."

"Thals, where are you going?" Annabeth asked.

"Me? I'm going with you. I can't let Seaweed Brain mess this thing up."

"But, the prophecy says seven. Usually, if you go with more people than it says, someone dies," she said.

"Tell that to the gods," Thalia shrugged.

"Hi, Thalia," Piper said, waving.

"Hi," Leo said, grinning. Percy was going to have to warn him to stay away from Thalia if he valued his life.

"Hi, Piper, Leo," Thalia said, leaning back. Apparently she was done stuffing her face.

"Percy," Hazel said, nudging him. "Are you going to introduce us?"

"Oh, right," he said. "Thalia, this is Hazel, daughter of Pluto and Frank, son of Mars. They went on a quest with me to free Death in Alaska and kill a giant."

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," they replied at the same time, causing their faces to go red. Thalia cocked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything, and just turned away.

"So, um, Thalia," Annabeth said. "There's something that we need to tell you."

"What?" she said, looking a little nervous.

"First of all, Nico knew about both camps, but he couldn't tell us. He even met Percy when he arrived here. That's where he disappears to sometimes. Also, he went looking for the Doors of Death from the other side. And, he's missing; probably been captured by Gaea. We think that he might be in Rome," Annabeth explained calmly, looking at Thalia like she was a bomb about to burst. Percy knew why. Nico was like everyone's little brother, especially for Thalia, because if she had aged properly, she would be in her early twenties. The only thing was, Nico acted way too mature for his age, and had been through a lot, which was really sad.

Thalia took a deep breath in, like she was trying to control herself. "So, we have to find him, right? And then kick his butt. But, we have to find him first. Okay."

Annabeth nodded. "So, we're leaving for camp tomorrow morning. But first, they're having some War Games thing tonight, which I guess is their version of capture the flag. I guess you'll be on our team, then, if you're going on the quest."

Jason, who had been relatively quiet throughout the meal, spoke up. "They won't like that. The quest is already uneven, with three Romans, and four Greeks. They won't like if we sail to the other Camp with Thalia, because then there would be five Greeks and three Romans."

Annabeth bit her lip, thinking about it. "Well, if we say that it was a special request from a goddess to take Thalia back to camp, they can't say no. We just won't mention that Thalia is tagging along to Greece and Rome, also. The Senate meeting already happened. It's not like they're going to call another one."

Jason thought about it. "I guess it would work. Just make sure you tell Reyna in private, though. Not when Octavian and everyone else is around."

Annabeth nodded and then turned to Thalia. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much… we looked for this one," she said, punching Percy on the shoulder.

"Ow," he complained.

Thalia stared at him, "What? Why did that hurt? I thought…"

Percy shrugged. "It washed away when I entered the camp."

"Hello, over here," Leo said, waving, "We can't read minds. What are you guys talking about?"

"Percy bathed in the River Styx," Annabeth explained. "So, he was invulnerable when he fought Kronos, except for one small spot. But, I guess the Little Tiber washed it away when he arrived here."

Leo nodded slowly, and continued nodding for a while, which earned him a punch from Piper, who grinned.

"What?" he said, "You're all way too serious."

"Shut, up, Repair Boy," Piper muttered.

"Beauty Queen," Leo mumbled. Piper reached for her dagger, then apparently thought better of it, and settled for a glare.

"So," Percy said, "what's the plan?"

Annabeth nearly choked on her food. "Since when do you ever follow a plan?"

"Good point, but don't we still need one?" Percy responded.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Why don't you come up with one? I've never played this game before."

"Oh, gods, no. If Percy makes the plan, we're all doomed. And Annabeth, I thought that you always have a plan," Thalia said, smirking.

"Well, we could do the same thing we did last time, but change it," Hazel suggested.

"What did you do last time?" Annabeth asked. All of the eyes at the table were trained on Hazel, which made her turn a little red.

"Well, I found some underground tunnels to get to the other side, and Percy blew up the water cannons. Frank shot a hydra arrow, I think, to get us up and into the fort, and then we… just rode in, on Hannibal the elephant," Hazel explained.

"Okay," Annabeth said, "But if that's what you did last time, then they'll expect it, and be more prepared. So, we'll have to change it a little."

"Sure," Hazel said, "we can do that."

Thalia grinned, "Let the games begin."

* * *

**A/N: Please review and tell me what you think of the story so far. Thanks!**


	5. Percy V

**Author's Note: Bonjour! Sorry, this chapter is shorter than the others. It was originally going to be part of chapter 4, but it was getting too long, so I separated it.** **From now on, I'm going to reply to the reviews in my AN's, so yeah. Please tell me what you think and enjoy the chapter! :)**

**Replies:**

**pj fan: Thanks for the review! Percy does look more powerful in this chapter.**

**IluvJesus: Thanks for reviewing! :) Glad you like it!**

**bee: I just can't imaging Annabeth being like that during the reunion... despite what it says in the first HOO book. Thanks for reviewing, though! It means a lot.**

**SammieJackson: I know, improper grammar annoys me, too. So, if you see any in this story, feel free to tell me and I'll change it. Oh, and when Thalia and Jason met, he said 'What?' because he was protesting against being called her little brother because Thalia still looks 15. Sorry if that confused you. And, if you were talking about something completely different, then just PM me or something and tell me what you meant. Thanks so much for the review, though! I appreciate it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO or any of the characters. It all belongs to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

CHAPTER 5

PERCY

* * *

Percy was really excited. During dinner and for a while afterwards, the eight of them had gone over the plan. Not that he intended to stick to it completely, but still, it was good to have a plan.

He didn't think their chances were really high, because it was eight against two hundred, but if everything worked out properly, there should be no casualties.

He was putting on armor with the rest of the demigods. They were going to attack, same as last time, but they had a modified plan. The Romans wouldn't know what hit them. The plan was a mix of Greek and Roman strategy and fighting, which would confuse the other team.

"You ready?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah," Percy replied, grinning. They had split themselves into groups. Hazel, Leo, and Piper would go first, followed by Frank, Jason, and then Annabeth. Thalia and Percy would be the last to go, because they would be taking the old-fashioned route.

Annabeth stared at the group, "Remember what you're supposed to do, and please, stick to the plan, Percy."  
He smiled weakly, "I don't think that's possible."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Fine. Good luck, guys."

Everyone murmured in agreement, and then turned to Reyna, who was circling overhead on her Pegasus.

"I expect no killing," Reyna yelled, "And a mostly fair game. Begin!"

Hazel made a tunnel appear out of nowhere, and entered with Leo and Piper. They would come out on the other side and start attacking. Next, Frank changed into an eagle, and flew with Jason to the other side of the fort. They would keep the defenders who were waiting for Hazel busy. Annabeth slipped on her invisibility cap, and just walked over to the other side.

"Ready, Seaweed Brain?" Thalia asked.

Percy didn't reply, but he felt the familiar tugging sensation in his gut, and the water cannons exploded. Percy thought they would have learned from last time, but apparently they liked water cannon up their noses.

"Come on," he motioned to Thalia. The gate was heavily guarded, and Hannibal wasn't on their side, so he and Thalia were going to just climb up the fort. Thalia had her bow and a hydra arrow from Frank, so they even had a nice ladder.

Thalia had reluctantly gone with the plan, despite her fear of heights.

"You go first," Percy urged. "Just don't look down."

"Thanks," she muttered.

She climbed up quickly, followed by Percy, and by the time they got up, Thalia's face was white, quickly turning green.

He didn't have time to ask her if she was okay, because defenders immediately surrounded the two of them. The other six were on the ground, because that's where they _thought_ everyone would be. They thought wrong.

There were a third of the Romans up there, and there were all against Thalia and Percy.

There was another tug in his gut, and two nearby water cannons blew up, scattering defenders, and throwing some over.

"Great," Thalia muttered.

Percy lost all track of time. He could barely hold off so many people. Thalia wasn't doing much better. She was fighting like a maniac with her spear, and her shield scared some of the campers away, but not many. Percy was slashing at people, trying not to hurt them too badly, but mainly whacking them on the head.

The eagles were busy, darting in and out over their heads, picking up the wounded.

When Octavian showed up, Percy whacked him on the head, hard, just like he had done before. It gave Percy satisfaction, because the guy had been so annoying before, and they hadn't been able to do anything about it. Jason and Frank appeared soon, which was helpful. Frank was still an eagle, and was picking up the enemy, wounded or not, and dropping them somewhere else.

Finally, the four looked at the mess. The whole place was soaking wet, and there were scorch marks on the ground from lighting. There were several unconscious campers, and a few injured ones, but the others had retreated, or had been taken away by the eagles.

Jason, Frank, and Thalia looked at Percy, astonished.

"What?" Percy asked, confused.

"Never mind," Frank said shaking his head.

"Well, let's go," Thalia said, motioning to the staircase.

Frank changed back into human form, "I'll go see how they're doing down there, and I'll come back if they don't need any help."

The three nodded and ran down the stairs.

There were a few guards on the stairs, but Percy just slashed at them with Riptide.

When they reached the innermost area of the enemy's base, they knew they were in trouble. Hannibal was waiting, ready to charge, along with a fresh cohort, that, unlike Percy, Thalia, and Jason, hadn't been in battle yet.

Luckily for them, Frank came running down the stairs, followed by Piper and Annabeth.

"Hazel and Leo are keeping them busy," Piper panted.

Percy turned his attention to the enemy, who hadn't attacked yet. That was odd.

Hannibal was ready to charge, but Frank turned into and even bigger elephant to stop him.

"Now, " Piper said, "No need to attack." She had told them of her charmspeaking abilities, and they were turning out to be very useful.

"Why don't you just drop the weapons and walk out of the fort? We'll just take the banners and leave? Okay," Her voice was so powerful, that Percy wanted nothing more to just drop Riptide and leave. He shook his head though, concentrating on the scene again.

"Yeah, we'll go," one of them muttered, dropping his pilum and walking out. About half a dozen nodded and followed him out, all walking in a daze.

There were still about thirty Romans left, and six of them. They were at a weird standstill, with the two elephants in the corner, so Annabeth put on her cap and disappeared. Some of the Romans at the back of the group fell to the floor, with looks of confusion on their faces.

The enemy team started noticing what was going on and charged. The rest of the battle was a blur. Hacking and slashing, stabbing and whacking, Percy combined Greek and Romans styles, and the enemy crumpled around them. He saw more go down, apparently struck by nothing, a lot of lightning, and some just walking out freely, courtesy of Piper. Frank was still keeping Hannibal busy, though.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Piper fall, probably from using too much charmspeaking. Someone whacked Jason painfully with a pilum, and he went down too.

Percy whacked his last opponent on the head, and saw the banners floating in the air. Annabeth took off her cap and shimmered into view, grinning.

Her, Thalia, and Percy ran outside, closely followed by Frank, who had turned back into human form.

As they ran outside, they heard Reyna yell, "The game has been won! Assemble!"

"Good job," Percy said.

"Yeah, you too," Thalia said. She still looked a little pale after the climb to the top of the fort. She was a Daughter of Zeus, Lord of the Sky, yet she was afraid of heights. That was ironic.

Annabeth was still carrying the banners, but when Frank caught up to them, she handed it to him.

Hazel and Leo joined them soon after. Leo was grinning like crazy, but Hazel looked a bit nervous and edgy around him, like she was afraid he was going to burst into fire at any moment. Percy knew that he could burst into fire, but he wouldn't do it all the time, right?

There were minor injuries all around. Percy could see a lot of cuts and bruises, and many half-concious people. He didn't understand how eight of them took on so many, and only Jason and Piper suffered from injuries. Maybe the gods were on their side. But that couldn't be the case. It wasn't a life or death situation, just a game.

The worst injuries were some broken bones, but no one was stabbed in the back this time. Like, literally stabbed in the back with a pilum. Someone had done that to Gwen last time. She had come back from the dead. Now she was out of the legion and in college, though. Dying can make you want to stop fighting.

"Good job," Reyna said, once the un-injured people had gathered. "But, I'm not so sure about who crossed the fort first." She glanced at the six.

When Percy though about it, he wasn't so sure. Leo, Piper, and Hazel had been underground, Frank and Jason had been flying, Annabeth had been invisible, and he and Thalia just climbed to the top.

Thalia looked around at the rest of them. "Well… we're not really sure," she said, turning back to Reyna.

"Okay, then," Reyna said, "congratulations to the winning side. Lights out in an hour."

Percy smiled. It was time to have a nice Roman bath, and then hopefully sleep peacefully before they set off for Camp Half-Blood.

"Where are Jason and Piper?" Leo asked.

"They're in the infirmary, Leo. I don't think it's anything too bad. Piper just passed out from all of the charmspeaking, and I think Jason just has a bad bruise," Annabeth said.

"Good job, Seaweed Brain," Thalia said.

"I didn't do that well," Percy insisted.

The others turned toward him.

"What do you mean?" Frank asked. "You were the reason we won. We were staring at you earlier because you basically took down all of those people on your own with Riptide and the water canons. We didn't do that much."

"And," Annabeth said, "Even after Piper told them to leave, there were still a lot left. And you took down a lot. It was crazy. You were using Greek and Romans styles and moves I haven't even seen before."

That hadn't been how Percy remembered the battle. He honestly hadn't been counting how many people he had attacked.

"Oh," Percy said.

"Oh?" Leo asked incredulously. "You were like _awesome_. I want to do that."

Percy grinned and Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Leo, now his ego is going to get even bigger." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Why are you being sarcastic about it?" Percy asked.

"You don't have an ego. You hate being a leader," Annabeth pointed out, punching his arm.

"Well…" Percy muttered.

"Anyway, I'll go say hi to Beauty Queen and Sparky before I sleep," Leo said, walking off.

"I think I'll go too," Hazel said, "Bye Frank, Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia," she walked off.

"Bye," Frank said quickly, following Hazel.

"Good job, Seaweed Brain. You actually stuck to the plan," Annabeth commented.

"Hm, I guess I did, didn't I? Oh, gods, what's happening to me?" Percy said, grinning.

Thalia smirked, "Well, where do we go now?"

Annabeth pulled her away, "Goodnight, Seaweed Brain. Come on, Thalia, I'll show you."

"Bye," Thalia called, before Annabeth dragged her back to the ship.

Percy walked over to the baths house, and when he was done and leaving, he decided to sleep in the Fifth Cohort Barracks, even though Jason might not be sleeping in the Praetor's house.

He crossed his fingers for a nice dreamless night, but still resigned himself to more horrible nightmares from Gaea. He settled himself down on the bunk bed, and drifted off to sleep again.

He was in the same cave that Gaea had shown him before.

Her cold, hard voice spoke again, "You have sealed the fate of those that you love. They will die, because of you and only you. You could have joined me. You could have saved them. Now, just being friends, just speaking with them, will kill them. It will all be because of you and only you. Prepare, young hero, for their deaths will be on your conscience. And they _will_ die."

He saw Nico, for just a second, his lifeless body in an earthen prison. She showed a vision of Annabeth, her face deathly pale, with blood trickling down her cheek. More and more visions of people he loved dying, flashed in front of him, first slowly, then so fast that they almost blurred together.

"Stop," he whispered. Suddenly he felt as tired as he had felt after he passed out during training. "Stop."

"It will never stop. You've already decided that. Now, you must live with that choice, and pay the consequences."

Finally, the echo of Gaea's laughter died out, and Percy snapped awake.


	6. Jason VI

**Author's Note:**

**I know, it's Wednesday, not Tuesday! Sorry! I'll be updating again on Saturday and I'll try to post as many chapters as I can before Mark of Athena comes out. I can't wait for it! This story will not be finished by the time it comes out, but I'll do as much as possible by then, and I will be continuing this rbrn after the book comes out.**

**Replies:**

**Menna Nasser: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it! :)**

**Sorry that this A/N is kind of long... what am I missing? Oh, the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own PJO or HOO or any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 6

JASON

* * *

Jason woke up, surprised by his lack of dreams. Maybe Gaea was taking the day off. That would be nice. He rubbed his eyes, and got that _oh-my-gods-where-am-I?_ feeling. He had felt like that every morning since he had woken up on the bus with Piper and Leo. He had never completely gotten used to Camp Half-Blood—it still felt like enemy territory, and now that he was here, he woke up still thinking he was back at the other camp.

Looking around, he remembered the events of the past few days: arriving at Camp Jupiter, the Senate meetings, and war games, and Thalia arriving last night at dinner. After changing and getting ready for breakfast, he wondered where Percy was. Then he remembered. Percy had insisted on sleeping in the Fifth Cohort Barracks, even though he was Praetor, and Jason should be the one sleeping there.

Percy could do whatever he wanted without Jason caring, though. He would deny it if ever asked, but Jason still was jealous of Percy and the way he was the leader of both camps and overshadowed Jason. He had to ignore it, though. The quest was the most important thing now, right?

As he walked out of the house, he bumped into, Percy, who was fully dressed and looked like he had been up for several hours. It had freaked Jason out that right after he had been thinking about his jealousy towards Percy, he showed up.

"Oh," Jason said, awkwardly, "hi."

Percy nodded, barely noticing him and walked away quickly. Jason spoke before he could get out of earshot, though. "So… what are you going to do now?"

Percy turned around a little impatiently and shrugged, but he didn't seem to be paying much attention. "Breakfast, I guess."

"Are you okay?" Jason asked, noticing that Percy's eyes had dark circles under them, like he hadn't been sleeping.

"I'm fine," he said, a little too quickly.

"Are you sure? Did you even sleep last night?" Jason asked. He wasn't sure why he was so worried, but something definitely was wrong with Percy.

Percy looked a little surprised at the question. "Of course," he turned around, ending the conversation and headed toward the Little Tiber, which Jason thought was odd, but then again, Percy was a little odd.

"Okay…" Jason said slowly. He left the house, shaking the thoughts of Percy out of his mind. It looked like everyone was up already. He must have slept really well. Demigods tend to sleep well on the rare occasions when Greek gods don't harass them with creepy, future-telling dreams. Oh, well. In some weird way, they meant well. Probably. Hopefully.

Piper and Annabeth were going dagger-to-dagger with each other, and Leo was nearby tinkering with something. Tyson was walking to breakfast, with Ella fluttering around him, spouting facts. Octavian was watching her suspiciously. That was yet another problem: they had to make sure Octavian never knew about Ella's knowledge of prophecies and the Sibylline Books. It's not like they enough problems already.

_Oh gods!_ Jason thought._ I'm becoming more sarcastic by the moment! I think Leo's rubbing off on me… is that good? It might also be a bad thing, though…_

He rolled his eyes at himself, earning some weird looks from nearby soldiers. Hazel and Frank were probably with their cohort, and Reyna… she was being the Praetor. Even though Percy was technically Praetor also, he and Jason had enough to deal with, and they would be leaving that very day for a quest that he doubted they would survive through.

He felt horrible about leaving Reyna in charge of the whole camp and city again. It wasn't his fault that he had gone missing for eight months, but Reyna had been the lone leader the whole time, and she would be again now. Even when he was Praetor, he had always thought Reyna had been better. That she had done more. She had been the real leader. She had been the real Praetor. Not him.

He scolded himself, throwing out the thoughts of self-pity out. He was still upset about leaving Reyna again, especially now that Piper was there… and he was confused. Well, he would have plenty of time to think about it on the boat.

He wandered around, just admiring his home. This had been his house, his school, basically his whole life since he was little. And then, to be ripped away from it for so long… it had been weird. He liked Camp Half-Blood, and there was nothing wrong with it, but this was where he belonged.

Everything was different, though. People were more serious and subdued, like it had been a hard year. Forget that, according to what he heard, it had been a hard _week_. Juno and Mars had arrived apparently, as well as Percy, who went on a quest to Alaska and returned to participate in a war that took place on the Feast of Fortuna. Then, the Greeks had arrived. That last part wasn't a bad thing, just a lot to—process.

His head hurt now, looking at all the memories, faces, and names he had forgotten. Mostly everything had come back, but it was so real now that it made his head spin.

He ended up back in front of his house and sighed. It was probably time for breakfast already. He walked over there, not wanting to be late, and met up with Piper and Annabeth, who had finished their spar and were going to eat.

"Hey," Jason said.

"Hi," Piper smiled weakly, but she looked really tired. Sparring with Annabeth in the morning can tire almost anyone out.

"Dreams?" Annabeth asked. No 'hi' or 'hello', she just cut right to the chase. Annabeth Chase cut right to the chase. Ah, maybe Leo was rubbing off on him.

"Surprisingly, no," Jason admitted. "Looks like the gods and Gaea were too busy showing the horrifying future to someone else."

She nodded. "I didn't have any dreams, either. Neither did Piper, and that's odd. I mean, really? Three of the seven prophecy demigods all had no dreams the night before they leave on a quest to save the world? But they give us stupid dreams basically every other night? I don't understand. Ugh!"

"Calm down, Annabeth," Piper said, and her soothing voice made all of Jason's stress and jealousy melt away.

"Don't charmspeak me, Piper," Annabeth snapped. Her voice jarred Jason out of the trance the charmspeaking had placed him in.

"How come it didn't work on you?" Jason asked, confused.

"It'll take her a lot more practice to charmspeak me," Annabeth said, smiling at Piper, who rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she mumbled.

"Anyway," Annabeth continued. "It is weird for us to have no dreams, but maybe you're right. They could have been giving dreams to someone else…" she trailed off, probably trying to think of who else would be the recipient of the night's dreams.

"Hey," someone called from behind. Jason turned around.

"Hi, Hazel," he said.

"No hello for me?" Frank, who was standing next to Hazel, asked.

Jason rolled his eyes, but smiled faintly, "Hello, Frank."

Annabeth and Piper echoed the greetings, and they continued to walk to breakfast.

"Where's Leo?" Jason asked.

"I think he went to eat already. He was grumbling about not being fed enough," Hazel said, smirking.

"Leo, Leo, Leo," Piper said, shaking her head. "He'll never change."

"Who else are we missing?" Frank said, "Wait, where's Percy? And Thalia?" Everyone turned to look at Annabeth.

"What? I don't know," she said, shrugging.

Jason grinned. "You don't know something?" He pretended to be shocked.

"Shut up, Grace," she grumbled. "I don't stalk him around the camp. How am I supposed to know where he went? And only the gods know where Thalia is. Anyway, Hazel, Frank, did you have any dreams?"

Hazel shook her head.

"No," Frank said, "Why?"

"Just wondering," Annabeth said. "So, I wonder if Percy, Thalia, or Leo did…" she stopped talking and walking abruptly and narrowed her eyes.

"What?" Piper asked worriedly.

She stared at Piper, her grey eyes focused. It looked like she was thinking and planning. Then again, it was Annabeth. She was _always_ thinking or planning.

After a brief pause for a few seconds, she replied, "Nothing."

No one was convinced, but they continued walking to breakfast anyway.

When they arrived, the Romans were pouring in. They walked to where they had eaten previously, and found Thalia, Leo, and Percy already eating.

"Hey, we were looking for you," Frank said.

"We got hungry," Leo shrugged, and scooped more food into his mouth.

The three of them did look very hungry, but Thalia and Leo were eating more than Percy. He seemed to be thinking, which didn't match the description of his personality that had been provided by the campers in New York.

Annabeth seemed to notice it too, and gave Percy a confused look. He seemed to sense it and smiled at her. She still looked a little skeptical, though, when she sat down to eat.

"Did you get any dreams last night?" Annabeth questioned.

"No," Thalia said cautiously, "Why are you asking?"

"Just because," She said mysteriously. Thalia just rolled her eyes. People seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Leo, Percy?" Annabeth asked, staring at the two of them until they replied.

Leo shook his head, "No dreams."

"I didn't get any, either," Percy said.

"Percy," Annabeth. "I know you're lying. You're horrible at lying."

"I'll tell you later," he said curtly. That was odd. He was usually happier—more open, at least from what Jason could tell in the little time he had known him. He had never been like that.

"I don't think he could've had any dreams. Did you even sleep, Percy?" Piper asked.

"Jason asked me that and now you. I did sleep. Why do you keep asking?" he demanded.

"Well, you look half-dead," Leo said, rejoining the conversation now that he had eaten.

"Yeah," Thalia agreed, narrowing her eyes at Percy.

"Anyway," Percy said, ignoring them. "Are we leaving right after this?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "I think we should leave as soon as possible because the sooner we defeat Gaea, the better."

Annabeth nodded. "But we're all going to die the second we meet any monster if we don't eat."

"I agree," Frank muttered, yawning.

The table settled into a comfortable silence as everyone dug into their food. Reyna was eating somewhere else, since Octavian would throw a fit, screaming of conspiracy if she ate with the Greeks at every meal.

Jason was aware of the conversations of the Romans behind him, catching words and whispers every so often.

"Greeks… Graecus."

"Prophecy."

"Gaea, the giants."

"Going to die."

The last comment didn't exactly reassure Jason. He was getting more and more nervous and excited by the second.

He finished eating and observed the others at the table. Not in a creepy-stalker way, but watching them. That was still a little creepy, but oh well.

Percy still looked half-dead, even though he insisted that he had slept and was trying to look happy and upbeat. It wasn't working because Annabeth continued to give him worried and confused looks, occasionally studying him like she suspected something. Percy was pretending not to notice her while sipping some blue drink.

Piper was glancing around the whole room and sometimes at Jason, like she expected the Romans to attack her or something at any moment.

Leo looked extremely bored and was fiddling with something while eating, glancing at the time, and watching all the Romans. Sometimes he would even start tapping his feet on the floor and drumming his fingers on the table until Piper told him to stop. He had a serious case of ADHD.

Now came the weird part. Hazel was staring at Leo like he had just come back from the dead or something, and every time he glanced up from whatever he was tinkering with, she would hurriedly look down, and then glance at Frank, while sinking lower into the couch. Jason would never, ever understand girls.

Frank was…eating. He occasionally glanced at Hazel and Leo, and sometimes looked at Hazel while she was watching Leo… Jason was really confused about those three. Oh, well. He could ask Hazel or Leo about it later.

Jason focused back on Percy again. He couldn't help disliking him. He hadn't forgotten that while he had been injured at the War Games, Percy had been fighting like a maniac, combining the Greek and Roman fighting styles and some other moves, too, that Jason had never seen before. Jason still hadn't gotten the hang of the Greek style of, and Percy could speak both languages, and he was still horrible at reading or speaking in Greek.

Percy's head snapped up and he looked at Jason, confused. Jason glared at him. He couldn't be nice to Percy, even if he tried. He had basically stolen his life.

"What?" Percy asked. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"What?" Annabeth said.

"What?" Jason said.

"I'm confused," Leo said, "I don't know about you guys."

"What?" Percy repeated.

"Percy, why did you say 'what'? _What_ are you talking about?" Annabeth asked.

"Why are you," he said, motioning to Jason, "so angry at me? What did I do?"

They all shifted their eyes from Percy to Jason.

"I'm not mad at you," Jason said stiffly.

"Uh-huh," Percy said, "and I'm the smartest person at this table."

Jason looked at Annabeth, and her intimidating gray eyes were creeping him out. They were staring at him and for a second he was worried that she could read his mind. But that wasn't possible, right?

"Jason," Piper started.

"I'm not," he insisted. "You're crazy."

Jason felt his anger toward Percy growing. He shouldn't have pointed it out in front of the entire table, forget that, if they started yelling, the whole camp would know how jealous Jason was.

"You're mad at me. Why?" Percy repeated.

"No, I'm not!" Jason and Percy's voices were rising, and heads would start to turn towards their table any minute now.

"Stop," Piper ordered, her charmspeak making Jason want to drop his fork and stop talking, "Whatever is happening can be discussed later—in private. We'll have plenty of time for all this drama during the quest."

Annabeth nodded in agreement and glared at Percy, threatening him to say another word, and when he stayed silent she looked at Jason. He thought he saw a flicker of amusement cross her face, but her gray eyes immediately went back to their usual stormy state, so he didn't say anything.

"Are we leaving now?" Leo asked.

Jason didn't feel in the mood for eating anymore, and since everyone else had stopped too, he figured that they felt the same.

"Yeah, we can leave," Thalia said. She sounded a little amused and would smile or grin at Jason every once in a while, so he felt like she and Annabeth were sharing some inside joke about him.

"I'm going to get my stuff, then," Frank said, standing up.

"I'll go too," Hazel said.

"Don't you have to go get your clothes and everything?" Piper said, looking at Percy.

"Er—" he said, turning red. "I don't really have much stuff here, but I'll go find something, I guess." He awkwardly got up and left, his face still pink.

"Why doesn't he have anything?" Leo asked.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "I guess Hera didn't pack him a suitcase when she dropped him off on the other side of the country to sleep for half a year."

"Oh," Leo mumbled, returning to fiddling with whatever had been in his pockets.

"You should go say bye to your friends," Annabeth advised. "You might not be able to see them again—for a long time."

Jason sighed, hoping that he would eventually see his Roman friends again after the quest. "I guess." He wasn't planning on saying bye to every single camper, but he visited the Fifth Cohort and some of his friends from the other Cohorts, and at the end, he went to say bye to Reyna.

Breakfast had ended, so he went to look for her at her house, but she wasn't inside. He found her in the little garden space between the two praetor houses, copying something down on a piece of paper.

"Do you ever take a break?" he asked. He already knew the answer, though.

She sighed and looked at Jason, "Who else would do all this?"

"No one," he admitted. "I just want to say that I'm sorry—that I'm leaving again, and you'll be doing this alone, and I'm sorry that you got stuck doing this."

"Apologizing? That's not very Roman of you. Then again, you _are_ changing," Reyna said.

They way she said it, he couldn't decide if she thought that was a good or a bad thing.

"Well, at Camp Half-Blood, Piper told me that sometimes you have to apologize, Roman or not," he explained.

"Ah, the daughter of Aphrodite," Reyna said, leaning back in her chair. Her face still showed no emotion.

"She's not like that. She doesn't care about how she looks," Jason protested.

"I never said anything about her," Reyna said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Well, yeah," Jason said, "But—"

"Do you like her?" she asked, cutting him off.

"What?" Jason asked incredulously. What was she doing?

"Are you going to make me repeat myself?" she asked, pausing. When he said nothing, she continued. "I guess so: Do you like her? It is a simple question, Jason, and close your mouth or you'll catch flies."

Jason snapped his mouth close. "Well, I don't know."

He did, in fact, like Piper… at least as a friend, but he was still a little confused about it, especially since it was Reyna asking him the question.

"Well, you'd better decide fast, Jason Grace, or someone will be hurt, I can guarantee you that," she said.

She smiled at the look on Jason's face, and he realized just how different she looked when she actually smiled.

"You should smile more often," Jason blurted out.

He didn't know exactly why he said it, but he wanted Reyna to know that he might not, well, _like_ Piper.

Reyna laughed. "I should, shouldn't I? Maybe I'll start…maybe. Anyway, you still look thoroughly confused, and you have to leave soon, so I do believe it's time to say goodbye."

"Yeah—uh," Jason started.

"Oh, stop. Please speak in full sentences and stop stammering when you get nervous. I'm not going to attack you," she said, standing up.

She walked closer to give him a quick hug, and when she let go, she stared right at him. "Don't do anything too stupid, please."

"I'll try," Jason smiled. "Bye Reyna, I'll miss you."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and her face flushed red. Jason could feel himself blushing, and he didn't move, but just stayed there staring at her. She stared right back.

"Well, you should leave," she said, turning away. She picked up her papers and pushed Jason back into the house and then out the door. They started walking towards the Argo II.

When they arrived back at the ship, the prophecy demigods and some Romans were there, and a few looked at them suspiciously.

Reyna shook his hand and said loudly, "Goodbye, Jason."

"Bye, Reyna," he whispered, walking away.

When he looked back, she was facing away, talking to someone from the Fourth Cohort.

Percy was saying goodbye to Tyson, Ella, and Mrs. O'Leary.

"Bye, brother," Tyson said, giving Percy a bone-crushing hug. "Tyson will stay here. Tyson will stay with Ella."

"Okay," Percy said, smiling, "Bye Tyson, see you later, Ella."

"Bye Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon, quest, prophecy, _***A Half-Blood of the eldest gods, Shall reach sixteen against all odds And see the world in endless sleep The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap**_, cursed blade, hero, Annabeth Chase, chasing," Ella muttered, flapping her wings around nervously.

"Shh, Ella," Percy warned. He looked really worried and kept glancing around, hoping no one had heard the prophecy. Octavian didn't seem to have noticed anything strange, which was good. When satisfied, he turned to Mrs. O'Leary.

"Bye," he said, rubbing her absentmindedly.

Annabeth nudged Jason. "We're leaving, get on the boat."

The seven climbed on the boat, but Percy still seemed a little out of it.

"Romans," Reyna called from below. "Our praetor, Percy Jackson, as well as our former praetor, Jason Grace, will be travelling with two of our soldiers and three other Greeks to fulfill a prophecy to save our world and our camp. We wish them the best of luck on their journey, and hope they return safely."

She turned to the ship and looked at Jason and the others. "Good luck and may the gods be with you. Senātus Populusque Rōmānus!"

"Leo," Annabeth said.

"I'm on it," he jogged over to the controls and the ship gracefully took off, which surprised Jason. Maybe Leo was getting better at flying the ship. At least they would make a good final impression on the Romans before leaving.

He glanced down at Camp Jupiter, New Rome, the Romans, Tyson, Ella, and Mrs. O'Leary, along with Reyna, staring at the ascending ship, and he sighed.

The quest had begun.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

***The bolded and italicized lines up above are the lines from the first Great Prophecy, from The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan. He wrote that prophecy, not me.**

**I just realized, this chapter was not very eventful. Oh well.**

**I can't wait for Mark of Athena! Only 6 more days until it comes out! :) Bye! :)**


	7. Annabeth VII

**Author's Note: Hello! :) I'm back! I'm freaking out! Mark of Athena is coming out on Tuesday! :)**

**Replies to the anonymous:**

**Lovepercy21: Glad you liked it and thanks for reviewing!**

**imran: Cool! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Guest: I didn't believe it either, but (shrugs) I don't know. People are saying there are chapters leaked on Google books and I visited the url and it looks real, but... I don't know. I don't think Rick Riordan said anything about it, so I'm confused about all that, but let's just wait for the book to come out!**

**Disclaimer: Sigh, I don't own PJO or HOO or the characters. Rick Riordan does.**

**I'll stop boring you. You can read the chapter now.**

* * *

Chapter 7

ANNABETH

* * *

As the boat took off, Annabeth surveyed the people around her. She didn't care if they thought she was staring.

They all looked okay overall, though Hazel and Frank looked nervous. Percy no longer looked as tired as he had before, and Jason just seemed a little sad, probably because he was leaving his home again.

Frank and Hazel were talking quietly, Piper was whisper-yelling something at Leo, Percy was next to Annabeth, and Thalia had moved over to her brother, and they were standing in silence.

She sighed to herself. This quest was not going to work if they separated themselves into little Greek and Roman groups.

Still, there were other problems, like Gaea. The lack of Greek-Roman interaction could be dealt with later, if fighting the Mother Earth Goddess didn't make them trust each other. But still…

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, not letting the little sigh go unnoticed.

"If we were all okay, would we be here?" Annabeth asked tiredly.

"No," Percy admitted. "But we don't have to be negative about it."

"Sorry," Annabeth whispered. "But they can't give us a break, can they?

Percy didn't reply to that.

"We should have a meeting. We need to talk," Annabeth continued.

"What? Already? Why? You haven't even shown me my cabin," Percy protested.

"Oh, so you thought you have your own cabin? Think again, Seaweed Brain, you're sharing with Leo, Jason, and Frank."

"What? You didn't make me my own room?" Percy pouted.

"There were other more important parts of the ship, Seaweed Brain. There's one boys room, one girls room, and two bathrooms. So you better become good friends with Leo and Jason."

"Yeah, about that—" Percy started.

"Hey, you guys," Leo bounded over. "Piper wants us all to _talk_." He rolled his eyes as he said that last word and glared at Piper, who was grinning.

"That's what I said," Annabeth said, smiling at Piper.

Leo rolled his eyes again and turned to Percy. "Please don't tell me you agree with this."

"I don't—" Percy started, but he turned to look at Annabeth, who was giving him a death glare. "But, you never know," he added hastily. "It could be a good idea… you know, talking."

Annabeth and Piper smirked, but Leo just groaned.

"Come on, Repair Boy, let's go convince everyone else to come," Piper said, grabbing Leo's arm and heading over to where Hazel and Frank were standing.

"Then we can go get those two," Annabeth said, nodding her head towards Thalia and Jason, who were now deep in conversation.

"Annabeth, I don't thin-" Percy warned.

Annabeth turned to look at him, but he kept talking.

"Annabeth, don't tell me you haven't noticed. Jason hates me. I'm not really sure why, but he does."

Percy said it in and extremely serious tone, and it made Annabeth feel like cracking up laughing. Percy really couldn't see how jealous Jason was? It was pretty obvious. She didn't want everyone to think she was nuts, so she settled for a smile.

"What?" he asked. "Why are you smiling like that?"

Annabeth laughed. "You haven't noticed why he's mad at you? You're so clueless."

"What are you talking about?" Percy insisted.

She just shook her head. "I'm sure that you'll figure it out… eventually. Thalia and I did, and I'm sure Piper, Leo, Frank, and Hazel will too."

"Stop acting so smart," he grumbled.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I'm not acting."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Anyway," Annabeth said, grabbing his hand and dragging him in the direction of Jason and Thalia, "It won't be that awkward, right?"

He groaned, causing Annabeth to smirk. When she and Percy walked up to the siblings, their conversation immediately stopped.

Annabeth was curious as to what they had been talking about, but she figured that it was their business, and if Thalia wanted to tell her she would, later. But still, another part of her was human and that part wanted to know.

"What were you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Nothing," Jason said a little too quickly. "I mean, something, but it was nothing. We weren't talking about anything. "

Thalia rolled her eyes. "It's no big deal. I'll tell you later."

Jason muttered something and glared at his sister.

"We're having a meeting," Percy said abruptly.

"Um, okay…" Thalia said slowly, "About what?"

Percy shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? Ask her," he finished, pointing at Annabeth.

"Stuff," Annabeth said.

"Stuff?" Jason repeated. "Seriously?"

"Shut up, Jason," Annabeth said, "and come on."

She stalked off towards the ship's 'meeting' room. It wasn't really a meeting room. It was a tiny little space with some chairs that was supposed to be where people could hang out if they were bored.

Originally, Leo had designed a game room with a huge TV and video games, with a mini-fridge, couches, beanbags, and a talking robot that did whatever you asked.

Due to some… creative disagreements between Leo and basically everyone else, the game room had not been built. They had decided that two bathrooms were more important.

It had been replaced with a much smaller and simpler room that was now called the 'meeting' room.

Also in Leo's original designs, there had been eight bedrooms, one for each prophecy member and an extra one if they met another demigod along the way. However, because of an out-of-control Capture the Flag game between some Hunters and Campers during April, there were now only two bedrooms on the boat. One was for the boys, the other for the girls.

When she entered the meeting room, the other four were already there. She sat next to Piper and waited for Thalia, Jason, and Percy to catch up.

They arrived, and Thalia sat next to Annabeth, leaving Percy and Jason to sit next to each other. Neither of them looked terribly happy about that.

"So," Annabeth said immediately, not wanting to waste any time. "I don't know about what you guys think, but I feel that we need to know each other better. I know how boring and cheesy that sounds, but honestly, I think we need it."

"Is this going to be like a psychiatrist's session, and are you going to make us talk about our feelings?" Leo complained.

"No," Annabeth snapped, "It's just, I know barely anything about Hazel and Frank, and I admit, I don't even know a ton about Jason, Leo, and Piper."

She paused, daring anyone to interrupt, but no one did, so she continued. "Hazel, I bet you don't know Leo's favorite color."

Annabeth glanced at Hazel, who nodded.

"Piper, you probably don't know Percy's fighting style, and I'm sure that Jason doesn't know when Frank's birthday is. Leo, you don't even know how old Thalia is." Annabeth said, looking at all of them.

"True," Jason said.

"Then again, I don't think even Thalia is sure about how old she is, exactly."

Thalia grinned. "That's also true."

"What?" Frank asked. "I'm so confused."

"See? We know nothing about each other. Most of us met in the past week. We won the War Games out of pure luck, probably, though I hate to admit it. If we don't know each other, how in the world are we supposed to find out how to defeat Gaea?" Annabeth concluded, leaning back into her chair.

"I bet you've been thinking of that speech for the past week," Percy muttered.

"I have not," Annabeth countered. "Just for the past five days."

"So, what?" Leo interrupted. "You want us, to like tell our life stories? Are you going to lock us in here until we tell everyone every little detail about ourselves, so that if they wanted to, they could steal our identities and take all our money? Then we'd be broke. Well, I already am practically broke… but still!"

"Leo!" Piper exclaimed. "No one's going to be stealing any identities here! You watch way too much TV. I don't even know how you had the extra time. You were _supposed_ to be building."

"What? I couldn't be working all the time," Leo mumbled.

Piper looked like she was going to reply, but Percy interrupted.

"Where'd you get a TV?" he asked.

"The Stoll brothers," Leo grinned.

"I should have guessed," Percy said, rolling his eyes. Annabeth made a mental note to herself to find out just what _exactly_ the Hermes cabin has managed to smuggle into camp.

"We're getting off topic," Jason warned.

"Right," Annabeth said. "We can start from the beginning. Everyone can just tell a little about themselves, one at a time. I'll start."

So she did. Annabeth started at age seven and told them how she got to camp, Luke, Thalia, the tree… Luke's quest… everything. She did it as briefly as possible, trying to keep a straight face every time she said his name. It didn't work. She felt like crying by the end.

She didn't tell them about Percy's first quest. He could say it later.

"Wow, Annabeth," Piper said. Piper wasn't fully aware about what happened to Luke, but she knew that he died. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Annabeth said bitterly. "Who's going to go next? Leo?"

"Um, fine," he said quickly. He didn't really say much, just that his mom had died when he was young, and he had run away a lot after that.

He shrugged at the end. "That' it. Not much to tell." Annabeth noticed that he left out the part about his powers over fire, and there was something else, but she let it slide. The personal stuff would come out eventually.

"Hazel?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't have anything to say," she said. "Anyway, I'm going to the bathroom." She left her weapons at the table and got up abruptly and left, leaving the rest in an awkward silence.

"What's up with her?" Thalia asked.

"Nothing," Percy said, "She's just had a hard life—a really hard life."

Frank nodded his head in agreement.

"How old is she, anyway?" Piper asked.

"Thirteen," Frank answered sadly. "She's only thirteen."

"Where's she from?" Piper asked. Frank and Percy looked at each other for a few seconds, and it looked like they were having a telepathic debate, which was odd. Annabeth was curious again. Why did they all have so many secrets? That couldn't be good.

"New Orleans, I guess," Frank said.

"What do you mean, 'I guess'?" Annabeth asked impatiently.

"It's more like Old Orleans," Percy muttered quietly.

"What did you say?" Annabeth's ears caught the comment.

"Nothing," Percy said, his ears turning pink. He probably didn't think anyone had heard him.

"Uh-huh," Annabeth said skeptically. "Anyway, since it looks like no one's going to tell us anything else about Hazel, who should go next?"

An awkward silence settled around the table. No one wished to volunteer.

Just as Annabeth was about to speak up again, the silence was interrupted.

A scream ripped through the air, sending everyone to their feet.

* * *

**I know, it's short. But the chapter had to end there. See you later! :)**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	8. Piper, Percy VIII

**Author's Note: Hello! It's still Saturday, but I wrote another chapter today and decided to post it for you guys. I'm doing Piper's POV, and I'll try to do the other POV's too. I can't wait for Mark of Athena! :)**

**I want to thank everyone of you who has read or viewed or even clicked on this story. Unless you've posted a fanfiction, you don't know how amazing it is when you see all the people from different countries reading what you wrote. A special thanks goes out to those who favorited, followed, or reviewed this story. Thank you so much! :)**

**Anyway, if I write another chapter soon enough, it will go up tomorrow probably. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO or any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns all of it.**

* * *

Chapter 8

PIPER

* * *

"Hazel!" Frank exclaimed, running out of the room. Percy followed him quickly, pulling his ballpoint pen out of his pocket, and everyone else ran outside too.

When they arrived at the top level, they saw Hazel surrounded by two… cheerleaders?

Piper was confused. Who were the weird cheerleaders, why were they there, and why had Hazel been screaming? How did the cheerleaders even get on board? They were flying above the United States of America, for Zeus's sake.

Hazel looked as white as a sheet, so she decided to direct her question towards Annabeth.

"Annabeth, what—" she started.

Even though she didn't even get to finish the question, Annabeth seemed to understand what Piper was wondering.

"Look at them, Piper, look _carefully_," Annabeth said. Hazel was now slowly backing away from the cheerleaders, and Percy was edging closer.

"What?" Piper said, but she did as Annabeth asked, and when she did, she gasped. When she stared at them, their forms started to flicker, from innocent teenage cheerleaders to horrible monsters.

Their skin turned white, contrasting their now blood-red eyes. One of them snarled, and Piper noticed her creepy fangs. At first she thought they were some type of vampires, but she saw that one leg was bronze and the other looked like some sort of animal's leg.

She glanced at the others, who were doing nothing. Hazel had retreated next to Annabeth, probably because she had no weapons to fight with. Hazel had left hers in the meeting room when she had gone to the bathroom.

The boys looked completely paralyzed, and Annabeth looked a little apprehensive, which was odd.

"Kelli? Tammi?" Percy asked, shaking his head and coming out of the paralysis that had seemed to affect only the boys.

Piper thought then and there that Percy was going crazy. What was he doing?

"Do you… know them?" Hazel asked.

"He does. She does too," one of them said, nodding to Annabeth. "They have no school spirit! Tammi, you can take care of this."

"You sent me to Tartarus," Tammi snarled.

"Then why didn't you stay there?" Percy mumbled.

"You can't defeat us forever," Tammi growled. She lunged at Percy, and Kelli advanced on Annabeth. Hazel ran below deck, probably to get her weapon, and Jason, Leo, and Frank didn't look like they would be of much help at all. Thalia unleashed her shield and ran to help Percy.

Piper started freaking out. She wasn't much of a fighter. Sure, Annabeth had helped her at camp, but all the people here were probably way better than her.

Still, she couldn't stand here and do nothing, while her friends fought for their lives.

Making a split-second decision, Piper ran towards Annabeth and unsheathed Katoptris.

Kelli lunged at Piper, and at the same time, Annabeth swiped at Kelli but only grazed her arm.

"Ooh," Kelli sneered. "Another one."

Piper slashed and hit, and at one point Annabeth turned invisible, and she had to make sure she didn't accidentally stabbed her friend.

Out of the corner of her eye, Piper saw Hazel fighting off some other monsters that had arrived on the scene, and Thalia leaving Percy's side to help Hazel.

After everal more vampire-like monsters arrived, Piper had to help Thalia and Hazel fend them off, leaving Annabeth fighting alone.

When Piper finally felt like she was going to drop from exhaustion, Annabeth stabbed her dagger though Kelli from the behind, and she dissolved, groaning something that sounded like, "Again?"

Thalia sent the last vampire-thing back to Tartarus and smiled in satisfaction.

"Oh. My. Gods," Piper said, "I'm tired.

Annabeth tilted her head to one side. "That was two minutes, Piper," Annabeth said.

"What? Only?" Piper gasped. Why was she so tired, then?

"No," Thalia grinned. "She's just messing with you. That was like ten or fifteen minutes. Wow, there were a _lot_ of them."

Thalia was sweating a little, but otherwise looked fine. Annabeth looked fine, and Hazel looked a little more nervous, but otherwise, she was pretty much okay.

They all turned around. The ship had a couple nicks and scratches on it, but nothing that needed to be fixed.

Frank, Leo, and Jason were sitting down on the deck where they had been ten minutes ago, with blank expressions on their faces. They looked like they were half-asleep or in some meditative state.

Piper walked over to Leo and Jason and kicked them both in their sides really hard. She grinned. "Snap out of it!"

Jason jumped up and brandished his sword. "What?"

Leo, however, rubbed his eyes and groaned. "Let me sleep!"

"What is wrong with you two?" Thalia said, walking over with Hazel and Annabeth, who woke Frank up without all the violence. Piper didn't care. The kicking-them-awake part was the _fun_ part.

"What just happened?" Jason asked, surveying the damage around them.

"We just got attacked by a bunch of empousai. I don't even know how they got up here… Anyway, you guys just sat there like a bunch of idiots while we had to destroy them all on our own," Annabeth said, glaring at them.

"Huh? I froze, it's like I couldn't move. Who were they? Why were there a bunch of high school girls attacking us?" Jason asked.

"They were empousai, not high school girls. And anyway, high school girls can be pretty violent," Annabeth threatened.

"Uh, sorry," Frank muttered. "I tried to help, but it was like they paralyzed us. I couldn't move at all."

"They were cheerleaders," Leo said.

"Leo," Piper warned.

"Cheerleaders," he repeated.

"Shut up," Piper said, whacking him on the side of the head. "Snap out of it, Repair Boy."

"Beauty Queen," Leo retorted.

"Stop it," Annabeth warned. "We have more important things to think about."

"Wait!" Leo said, frantically looking around the ship. "Is my baby hurt?"

"Just some scratches," Annabeth said. "Nothing major. It'll be fine, Leo."

"No! My poor ship…" Leo trailed off, stroking the wooden panels on the floor. Leo could be very weird sometimes. Especially when it came to the Argo II, which was his pride and joy. And apparently it was his baby, too.

Piper realized something as she looked around. Someone was missing. She glanced at Annabeth, who suddenly seemed to notice the same thing.

"Wait," Piper said.

"Where's Percy?" Annabeth finished, her voice lowering to a worried whisper.

* * *

PERCY

* * *

He groaned, looking around. It was just like his dream earlier, the same cave, but he knew this was real now. He had been kidnapped from the ship and taken here. It had only been a couple of hours since they left Camp Jupiter. The last thing he remembered was slicing Tammi and a couple other of empousai into dust. Couldn't Gaea give him a break?

"No," a voice whispered. He knew it was Gaea's.

"What do you want?" Percy asked.

"Brave," she mused. "I guess that will help."

"What do you want?" Percy repeated.

"So persistent," Gaea said. "Fine, I said it earlier, did I not? You will be my pawn, Percy Jackson. And if I want this all to work out in time, I had to start now. Now is the perfect time."

"For what?" Percy asked. He had meant to keep his mouth shut, but his curiosity won over.

"You'll see, demigod. After all, my plan does revolve around you. You should be honored. For ages to come, you'll be known as the demigod who betrayed his friends and killed them to help me rise to my rightful power," Gaea said.

"Why do you think I'd ever help you? Can't you get it through your thick skull that I WILL NEVER JOIN YOU!" Percy's voice got louder and louder until her was yelling at Gaea.

"It's not a choice," Gaea said coldly. "You already chose not to join me, but now it's not a choice. You _will_ be my pawn."

Up until then, Percy had tried to stay as calm as he could, but Gaea was freaking him out. What did she mean? Of course he had a choice. Everyone had a choice, right? She couldn't make him do anything.

"I can," Gaea said simply. "And you _don't_ have a choice."

"What—" he started.

"Stop," Gaea ordered. Percy fell to his knees, and felt something leave him. A part of him felt… missing, if that was even possible.

"What did you do?" Percy asked nervously.

"You'll see," Gaea said. "But in the meanwhile, sleep."

Percy slumped unconscious, slipping into the ever-appearing, future-telling, demigod dreams. This one, though, was important.

In front of Percy, Nico shimmered into view. He was in blackness. Nico was sitting on nothing, leaning back on nothing. There was just… nothing. Or maybe Percy just had really bad eyesight.

Nico looked unharmed, but tired, very tired, and his eyes were closed.

At first Percy thought that the son of Hades was asleep, that is, until he talked.

"Percy," Nico whispered. "I'm at the Doors of Death in Rome, but don't try to save me. You don't understand." He shifted and he drew in several ragged breaths. "The gods, they don't know about it yet. Percy, please, I'm fine. I'm not dead, I think, or alive, or asleep or awake. I don't know, but I'm fine. Please, Percy."

Nico's head lolled back, like it had taken so much energy just to say that. His breathing was shallow and he had coughed and tossed and turned throughout the whole message.

"Nico, you're not okay. Don't worry about whatever it is. We'll come to get you, Nico, I promise. We're not going to let you… stay here."

"No, Percy, please," Nico whispered.

Percy was surprised that Nico could hear him, but comforted that at least he didn't appear to be injured or dying or… dead.

There was so much desperation in his voice that Percy kept quiet. Now what was he supposed to do? Percy had never been in a dream where he just stayed there after he saw whatever was necessary.

"Um, hello? Is anyone else here? Are there any important life-saving, godly messages that anyone needs to tell me?"

There was no reply.

"Nico?"

"Please, Percy, don't come to Rome," Nico whispered one last time, before everything dissolved.

He was now surrounded by pure white, the complete opposite of the place where Nico was being held captive.

Poseidon appeared, same as last time, and Percy bombarded him with questions.

"Dad, what do I have to brace myself for? Where am I? What is Gaea doing? What was Nico talking about?"

Poseidon shook his head. "Even the gods are not completely sure, Percy. I cannot tell you."

"What do you mean—you don't know? You have to know. You're a god," Percy said, confused.

"Gods or not, no one knows everything," Poseidon said, "But, Percy, I may not be able to contact you for a while. So, I wanted you to know, know matter what happens to you or what you'll do, you'll always be my son, and I love you."

"Dad, why are you acting like I'm going to die? I mean I'm usually about to die, but…" Percy said, nervous.

"What?" Poseidon looked confused and then a little embarrassed. "Well," he continued, "nothing. Just remember what I told you before. But this time, it will be something much, much bigger."

"Thanks," Percy muttered. Though his dad probably intended well, he was making Percy feel even worse than he had before. Something big was going to happen, and now Percy knew that somehow, he was involved. Great. That was just great.

"Oh," Poseidon said, "Sorry."

"It's okay. Is that all?" Percy asked, a little annoyed now.

"Yes," Poseidon said. "Just remember that I'm proud of you no matter what. Okay?"

Percy nodded slowly.

"Goodbye, Percy," Poseidon said, his eyes misting over. Percy didn't like the way he said that. The goodbye—it sounded final. And why was his dad starting to cry?

Percy didn't have much time to think about it before Poseidon disappeared, and Percy started waking up.

He focused on what was in front of him, trying to figure out where he was now. Percy was developing a headache from being sent all over the place by Gaea.

As his vision cleared, he recognized seven figures, all of them staring at him anxiously.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"Oh, thank the gods," one of them said. It was Annabeth. "Where did you go? You disappeared, and we were so worried. Then, you came back, you literally just appeared out of nowhere… and you were unconscious. Don't do that again."

She leaned over and gave him a quick hug. Percy, then remembering the dreams he'd had and what had just happened, shot to his feet.

"What?" Hazel asked, obviously worried.

"We need to talk about Gaea," Percy said. "And I know where Nico is."

* * *

**Dun, Dun, Dun! :) Tell me what you think. I'll accept all of the constructive criticism you give! :)**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	9. Jason IX

**Author's Note: Yes, I know, it's a short chapter. But, THE MARK OF ATHENA IS OFFICIALLY OUT! :) I have the copy right next to me. Please, no spoilers, as I have not finished it yet. All I can say about it is: I wish I could write like that! And it's awesome! :) I'm so happy! :)**

**So, I'll _try_ to update during the weekend, but no promises because I might be reading the actual book.**

**Even though the real Mark of Athena has come out, I hope that you will continue to read this! Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mark of Athena book or any of the characters from PJO and HOO. I also do not own the PJO and HOO books. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 9

JASON

* * *

"Nico?" Hazel gasped. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's… fine, I think," Percy said quickly. "Let's go back to the room. I don't feel comfortable talking up here anymore."

"Okay," said Annabeth, leading the way to the meeting room.

Jason was curious. The questions swirling around in his head begged for answers. Where had Percy gone? Why had it been _Percy_? Why was it _always _Percy? Where was Nico? Why had the empousai frozen him, Leo, and Frank, but not Percy, who seemed to be the perfect hero? And what did Percy mean, that he _thought_ Nico was fine?

They all shuffled back into the meeting room. In reality, they had been in there learning about Annabeth and Leo's lives just under an hour ago, but it seemed like it had been several days. Percy had only been 'missing' for half an hour, before he spontaneously appeared out of thin air, and they had spent most of that time searching the ship for him.

"What do you mean, you _think _he's fine?" Hazel asked as soon as the last person sat down. Usually it was Annabeth who got right to the topic and asked the questions, but Jason could understand that Hazel was scared for her half-brother. Well, sort-of half-brother, because their fathers were different forms of the same god.

"I mean—he looks unharmed," Percy started, choosing the words carefully. "But he was—asleep, I think. I don't know. Anyway, he was coughing and tossing and turning, but he wasn't dead, and I don't think he's dying."

"So he's asleep?" Piper asked, confused.

"No, I mean, maybe… possibly," Percy clarified.

"What are you talking about, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked, exasperated. "It's a simple yes-or-no question? Is he asleep?"

"I don't know!" Percy exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at the table. "He told me that he's not asleep or awake, if that makes any sense. His eyes were closed, and he _looked_ asleep, but he talked and moved, and he said he wasn't asleep."

"Dude, I know you're confused, but you're not making _any _sense," Leo commented, looking at Percy even though his hands were making something.

"Okay, fine," Percy grumbled. He paused for a second, probably trying to formulate how to explain it properly. "He's not dead or alive, okay? He's not asleep or awake, either. Got it? So, he's kind of in between. Think of it like a…coma. Yeah, Nico's in some sort of coma, except he can talk, and move a little and think."

"Sure," Annabeth said, "I've never read about something like that before, but I bet Gaea has a bunch of tricks up her sleeve. So, where is he? How do we find him?"

"He's in Rome," Percy said confidently, "He went looking for the Doors of Death there. But, he told me not to look for him. He said there was something that the gods aren't aware about. Something bad will happen there, and he told us to stay away and leave him there."

"But we're not going to, right?" Frank asked.

Percy nodded. "I don't know what he's talking about, exactly, but we have to go help him. Even though he doesn't act like it, he's still a little kid."

Annabeth nodded with a sad expression on her face.

Jason, however, was suspicious. How had Nico figured out something that even the gods didn't know? He didn't even completely trust the son of Hades, now that he learned that he had seen and known about both the camps for quite a period of time.

"What can _he_ know that the gods don't?" Jason asked, voicing his thoughts.

"Hey, even though Nico may not always seem…trustworthy, Jason, he has seen a lot of things and been a lot of places in the past few years. If there were anyone who could discover some weird conspiracy going on, it would be _him_," Percy said, finishing with a small, yet noticeable glare at Jason.

"You said it yourself: he might not be trustworthy. I don't think we should look for him," Jason insisted. He ignored the sad look Hazel gave him, as well as the puzzled one from Piper.

"We _have_ to look for him. He's like family, no he _is_ family, and if he does know something that's that important, then that's all the more reasons to find him," Percy said, his voice struggling to stay calm.

"But, he told you not to look for him. Anyways, what if he's lying? Then, what do we do?" Jason said. He had a bad feeling about going to Rome.

"We still have to go to Rome. It said so in the prophecy. When a prophecy says something like that, you can't just ignore it. So, when we get there, we can look for him, and he'll tell us what he knows," Percy reasoned, not quite yelling, but not speaking in the calm tone he had used before.

"No!" Jason said. He realized that he had yelled and collected himself. "Look, okay? I don't want to be the bad guy here, but we have to stick to the quest. We can't do unnecessary things."

"Unnecessary?" Percy asked incredulously. "So now demigods are unnecessary? Are you forgetting that he's a person, too? Also, what he has to say might actually be important!"

"Percy—" Jason stood up and was quickly losing control of his temper, but Piper interrupted him.

"Stop fighting," she ordered. Though she wasn't using charmspeak, the fact that she could just—control them like that made him even angrier, even though it never had before. That was odd.

"Don't charmspeak me, Piper," Jason snapped. Piper looked taken aback, and he immediately regretted it.

"Jason," Percy said. His voice was getting louder and louder. "We need to go help Nico. Prophecies aren't instruction manuals; they don't include everything that's going to happen on a quest. Nico knows something important, and we need to know what's happening."

"We can't trust him!" Jason blurted out. "I've heard the rumors about what Nico did a couple of years ago—after his sister, Bianca, died."

Percy who had stood up along with Jason during their little disagreement, looked surprised and then guilty. He sat back down and his eyes widened just a fraction, like Jason had crossed an invisible line that was never supposed to be touched. Suddenly feeling a little awkward and embarrassed, he sat back down also. Everyone else had been pretty quiet. Annabeth was biting her lip and glancing between Percy, Jason, and… Thalia. What was that about? Thalia looked just a little ashamed—or was that sadness—and was glaring at the ground like everything was its fault. Percy looked like someone had slapped him in the face. Hazel just seemed sad, and the rest were just a little confused and nervous-looking.

"He was ten years old when she died," Percy said. "I promised…" he trailed off, staring at his hands.

"What happened?" Piper asked gently.

"I—I promised," Percy's voice wavered just a little, "that on the quest to save Artemis, I would protect his sister, but I couldn't, and she died. He blamed me, and we discovered that he was a son of Hades, but he left before we could do anything. He just—disappeared."

Percy stopped, and seeing that he wasn't going to continue, Annabeth did instead. "The next year, in the Labyrinth quest, we saw him a couple of times, and he was being influenced by an evil ghost. He was—he was trying to get Bianca back. And for a while, Percy thought Nico was going to kill him to do it." She took a deep breath in before continuing. "Nico obviously didn't. He was still—what, ten, eleven years old, and he wasn't attending camp. It was dangerous, and we thought that Luke," her voice caught and she, Thalia, and Percy visibly winced before she continued. "Would try to capture him. So, basically, Nico eventually came through, helped us, and joined our side. He brought Hades to our aid in the battle of Manhattan, and without him, we'd probably all be dead. Well, Percy, Thalia, and I would be dead and maybe Jason and Hazel."

Percy looked up. "We can trust him." It was almost like a challenge, like he was daring Jason to speak up after what Annabeth said. Jason wasn't fully convinced, but decided not to say anything.

"Wait, I'm confused. What's this quest for Artemis and the Labyrinth and battle of Manhattan business?" Frank asked.

"Yeah," Piper said, "No one really told us much at camp about Percy. They didn't know everything about what happened, and we were busy building the ship."

"It sounds cool. Can you tell us, please?" Leo asked, staring at Percy.

The ghost of a smile crossed Percy's face. "Sure, maybe tomorrow."

"Cool!" Leo said, punching the air with his fist.

The tension in the room lightened, though Jason still was mad at Percy, and it didn't help that they were sitting right next to each other.

Hazel, who hadn't said anything in a while, spoke up. "So are we going to get Nico?"

"Yes," Percy said immediately.

"I think we should vote," Annabeth said, glancing again between Percy and Jason.

"I agree," Jason said. Someone else here would see his side of the logic, right?

"So, who wants to try and find Nico when we go to Rome?" Annabeth asked.

As expected, Percy and Hazel immediately raised their hands. Annabeth followed soon after and after glancing at Hazel, Frank did too.

Jason was glad to see that Piper, Leo, and Thalia agreed with him. Then, however, Thalia looked sadly at Jason once and raised her hand, too. Piper followed suit. After looking around for a bit, Leo did too.

Annabeth glanced at Jason. "It's not unanimous, but we're going, Jason."

He sighed, "Fine."

"Is it lunch time yet?" Leo asked, "Because I'm really, really hungry."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Just wait, Repair Boy."

"No, why don't we go now? I'm hungry too," Percy said.

Annabeth muttered something that sounded like, "Boys and their stomachs."

"Hey!" Percy said, "I'm not always hungry."

"Actually, I'm kind of hungry also, Annabeth. Let's just eat now before Leo starts crying," Thalia commented.

Leo put on a look of mock hurt. "I wouldn't _cry_!"

He and Thalia started shooting insults at each other, and Jason thought, not for the first time, how nice it was that even though they were on a dangerous quest to save the world, they still had time to act like _normal_ teenagers. Or, at least as normal as was possible while being a demigod.

Everyone started getting up, and Annabeth pulled Jason aside as he left the room. Piper gave her a confused look, but Annabeth just shrugged it off.

"Look, Jason," she said. "I know you think we should just stick to the quest. Honestly, I think that would be good, too. But, we can't just leave Nico, and there's something I haven't told you guys yet. I had a dream from Athena. This was a while back, and I don't fully know what she's talking about yet, but I have a feeling that Nico knows something about it. And we're going to Rome anyway, so we might as well look for him while we're there."

"You're right," Jason said.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow and almost smiled. "Okay," she said, before turning away to leave. Jason sighed and followed her out.

When they caught up with the others, who were sitting down in front of their untouched plates of food, Jason immediately knew that something was wrong—very wrong. Especially if Mr. _I-never-get-to-eat-I'm-starving_ Leo wasn't inhaling the food yet.

Annabeth must have noticed it too because she glanced at them suspiciously. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jason echoed. "I thought you guys were all hungry, and that's why we ended the meeting."

"I am," Leo muttered.

Thalia glared at him, but it was Percy who spoke first.

"It's—about Ella," he said nervously. If he hadn't been completely sure before, Jason really knew now that something was up. It took quite a bit to get Percy nervous. "She's missing, and so is Tyson. Mrs. O'Leary is back at camp, though."

Frank tried to come up with an explanation. "Maybe…they got lost or something, while chasing butterflies."

"No," Percy said. "They wouldn't. They've been captured, and I think I know by whom."

* * *

**I hope you liked it! :) Please review and tell me what you think of the story so far! Thanks! :)**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	10. Annabeth X

**Author's Note: I'm not going to spoil the Mark of Athena, but I'll say this: IT WAS AMAZING! I loved it, but now there's another cliffhanger, and we have to wait like a year for the next book, I think.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO or the Mark of Athena or any of the characters from the two series. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 10

ANNABETH

* * *

"Octavian?" Hazel asked.

"Probably," Frank muttered. "He's obsessed with those Sibylline Books. He'd do anything to learn those prophecies."

"Even jeopardize the whole Greek/Roman friendship thing?" Piper questioned.

"He probably couldn't care less if all of the Greeks die, unless it would affect his chance of getting the praetor's position at Camp Jupiter," Percy said.

Frank smiled, and Hazel nodded.

"No," Annabeth said. "I don't think so."

"What do you mean? Why else would they be missing?" Percy asked.

"They are missing," Annabeth agreed. "But, I don't think they've been kidnapped. We've taken every precaution to make sure that Octavian doesn't find out the truth about Ella, and Reyna's pretty smart, so she's probably been keeping a close eye on him. Gaea wouldn't have any need to kidnap them since we don't need another incentive to go to Rome. We're already going, and I'll bet that she knows the prophecy already, somehow."

There was a small silence, but Jason started nodding slowly, like he understood what Annabeth was getting at.

Percy stared at her suspiciously, like he sort of understood too, but didn't like it.

"What are you saying, exactly?" he asked.

"I'm saying," Annabeth started calmly, "that I don't think they're in any danger. I think someone—someone on our side, has, let's say—hidden them."

"You're saying we shouldn't look for them," Percy said.

"Yeah…" Annabeth said slowly. She knew that Percy wouldn't take this lightly. Tyson was his sort-of little brother, after all.

"Percy, listen," Annabeth started.

"No," Percy sighed. "It's okay. I get it. He's okay, and we can't look for him."

"Them," Leo corrected, which earned him glare from Percy.

"Thanks," Annabeth whispered, looking at Percy, who was staring at the table. That had become a very common sight recently—demigods angrily and sadly glaring at the table/floor/ceiling/other various inanimate objects that didn't deserve any of the blame that the teenagers were giving them.

"So, um," Annabeth started, seeing as no one else was going to try to make conversation.

"Can you tell us what the labyrinth quest and the quest for Artemis are? And the rest of your quests, too?" Leo asked. "You said you would."

Annabeth could have given Leo a hug. That's what they needed to lighten the glum mood that had inhabited the ship since they'd taken off.

Percy looked back up, a little of the usual mischievous glint back in his sea-green eyes.

"Oh, well, where do we start?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"From the beginning, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth answered, smiling back.

"I knew _that_," Percy said. "Okay, so I was twelve and attended Yancy Academy. Grover did also, and Chiron was disguised as our Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner." Anyway…"

And, just like that, Percy told the story of how they retrieved Zeus's master bolt and Hades's helm of darkness. That was followed by their quest into the Sea of Monsters. Annabeth tuned out of most of it, though, having already experienced it.

Occasionally, she would have to correct Percy, mostly when he messed up names and places. Thalia perked up when Percy started describing their quest to save Annabeth and Artemis.

Now, Annabeth started listening. She hadn't been there, and no one had ever told her the _whole_ story about what happened then. A little while through Percy's description of his third quest, Thalia interrupted.

"So, Percy, what _did_ Aphrodite talk to you about? You never told us," Thalia smirked.

"What? No—nothing," Percy assured her, though absolutely no one was convinced. His cheeks started turning red, so Annabeth decided to save him from the embarrassment.

"I'm sure it was nothing," Annabeth agreed. "Why don't you get on with the story, Percy?"

He nodded quickly, mouthing 'thanks' before continuing. Annabeth felt like crying when he talked about Bianca and Zoe's deaths. They were some of the first casualties of the Titan War and what the Titan's caused.

He continued to talk about their quest into the Labyrinth, and Annabeth tried not to blush when he told them about how she kissed him. She listened curiously as he described what happened after that. She wanted to know how he had ended up on Calypso's island.

"So," Percy said. "After that, the telekhines came and threw some lava at me, but apparently being a son of Poseidon allows me to be fire-resistant to some extent. And then, um, I think—"

"What do you mean, 'I think'?" Leo asked. "How do you not know?"

"Well," Percy admitted. "It's all a bit fuzzy, to tell the truth. Anyway, I didn't really know what else to do, so I called the nearest sea, ocean, water—whatever to come, and the volcano…exploded, I guess, and I was shot out of it."

He took a deep breath like what was coming next was a touchy subject for him. Annabeth grabbed his hand, and he smiled gratefully in return.

"I landed on—on Calypso's Island, and then I returned back to camp two weeks later. I was passed out for most of that time, though."

He continued into the battle and the war with much less enthusiasm, and Annabeth felt like crying after basically reliving all of their friends' deaths.

Percy's voice cracked as he described Luke at the end, and Thalia looked sad and distracted, also. He entertained them, though, and attempted to lighten the atmosphere by describing the campers' reactions to his and Annabeth's kiss underwater and in the dining pavilion.

"And that's it," Percy said.

"That's it? What do you mean?" Leo exclaimed. "That was—awesome. I want to do that."

"Thanks, I guess," Percy said, blushing red again.

Out of curiosity, Annabeth glanced at Jason. Because of his Roman training, his face was a mask, emotionless. But, the months that the son of Jupiter had spent at the Greek camp must have affected him because his face flickered through different emotions every once in a while—sadness, jealousy, curiosity, doubt, confusion.

She knew why, it was obvious. Jason was acting very jealous, and Percy was being oblivious.

"You mean—that was _you_?" Piper asked incredulously. "I saw that on the news. Gods, Percy, they had to move like half of a million people out of that area. I remember they had to cancel filming part of my dad's movie there…"

She trailed off and bit her lip. Annabeth had been spending more time with Piper than Leo and Jason at Camp Half-Blood, and she knew that Piper hated it when people went crazy about her movie-star dad.

"You're dad is in movies?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Piper said, probably expecting Percy to go crazy, yelling about how awesome Tristan McLean is.

"Okay," Percy said, shrugging.

Leo glanced down at something in his hand and then up again. "Can we land?"

"What?" Percy asked.

"Well," Leo explained. "Even though we made sure the ship could fly really far, I don't want to put too much strain on her and have her break down in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."

"You called it _her_," Jason noted.

"Where do you want to land, then?" Percy asked.

"We're over some river. Let's land there," Leo suggested.

"Fine," Annabeth said. She really didn't want to do it, but it would be bad if the ship crashed later because they didn't take a break now. "But not for too long. It's three in the afternoon, and I want to leave before it gets dark."

"Okay," Leo muttered, walking to the ship's control room.

"I hope he lands better this time," Piper muttered, probably remembering how Leo's landing skills had made her fall hard onto the ship's deck earlier.

"That was pretty funny," Percy admitted, smiling.

Annabeth glared at him until he wiped the grin off his face.

"It wasn't meant to be _funny_, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "We were supposed to make a good impression."

"Mm-hm," Percy said, trying not to laugh.

"Er—anyway," Frank said. "Can we do whatever we want now, or do we have to do the whole 'tell your life story to the people you met last week 'thing'?"

"Frank," Hazel chided.

Annabeth just laughed. "No, Frank, we don't _have _to, seeing as no one really _wants_ to do it."

"What?" Percy complained. "I went, and they don't have to go?"

Annabeth chose to ignore that comment and continue, pretending she didn't hear it.

"You can do whatever you want. The training room's open, you can sleep, eat, just _don't _leave the ship without telling someone else."

"Yes, mother," Percy saluted.

"Oh, you stop it," Annabeth groaned. "I swear, sometimes you act like a five-year-old."

"Is that an insult?" Percy asked.

"Yes," Jason said. Percy glanced at him, his face clearly saying _that question was not meant for you._

"Okay," Annabeth said, not wanting a full-fledged fight to finally start between the two sons of the Big Three who looked quite ready to start using their magical swords. "Percy, why don't I give you that tour you were talking about now?"

"What tour?" Percy asked, but Annabeth pulled him out of the room quickly.

"What are you doing? I didn't say anything about a tour," Percy whispered as Annabeth led him to the boys' room where he would be sleeping.

"I had to make something up. You and Jason looked ready to start fighting—pen versus gladius."

"I wouldn't have started fighting with him. I'm not that stupid," Percy said.

"Ah, but you've done some pretty stupid things," Annabeth said.

"Where are we going?" Percy asked, changing the subject.

"A tour. I'm showing you where you'll be sleeping," she said.

Percy nodded absentmindedly.

"What?" Annabeth said.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Stop that. Is something wrong? There is something wrong? What's wrong?" Annabeth demanded.

"Nothing," Percy said.

"Come on, Percy," Annabeth said.

He glanced around like he didn't want anyone else to hear.

"I've been having these weird dreams. Like—weirder than usual," he admitted.

Annabeth felt her stomach drop. So, _Percy_ was the one who had been receiving dreams.

"You lied?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Wise Girl," he said. "But I didn't feel comfortable about telling the others yet."

"What were they about?" she asked curiously.

"Gaea," Percy said. The color drained out of his face. "She said that I would be her pawn somehow, and you'd all die because of me."

His shoulders slumped and he cast his eyes downwards.

"Percy," she whispered, giving him hug. "That will _never _happen. We'll make sure of that, okay?"

He nodded slightly, and Annabeth sighed.

"I wonder if Leo's landed the ship yet," Annabeth thought out loud. "Because I haven't felt anything. Either he landed really well or we're still in the air. I think it's the latter."

Percy suddenly tensed.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"There's something below us, I think," he whispered, motioning for her to be quiet.

A few seconds passes in silence until they heard a soft _thunk._

"There," Annabeth said. "We landed in the river. That's all."

"Okay," he said shakily.

"Come on. I'm sure everything's fine," Annabeth pulled him once again down the hall to show him the rest of the ship. He must be imagining stuff because he was so nervous, right? But she stayed alert, listening for any sounds of a fight, monster, or enemy aboard ship.

"So," Annabeth said carefully, still alert, "this is the storage room." She gestured to a closed door.

"And that's the girls' bathroom," she pointed to a door opposite the storage room. When they reached the next door a few feet down the hall, she said, "This is the girls' room. Ours is a little bigger than yours."

Annabeth pointed out to Percy the control room and training room after that, and then the boys' room and bathroom at the very end of the hall. He nodded a little, but still seemed a little on edge, like he expected to be attacked at any moment.

"And, um, that's basically it," Annabeth concluded.

"Anna—" Percy started, but the ship suddenly shook. He turned pale, and they both raced upstairs.

Before Annabeth could even register what was going on, something snatched her up. She couldn't see where Percy or any of the others were, or who or _what_ had plucked her off the ship.

The Argo II was in the river, and the thing that picked her up dangled her over the side of the ship, and then dropped her.

It wasn't from too high up, so Annabeth knew she wouldn't die or break much, but she was still scared.

When she hit the water, it stung and hurt, but she knew that nothing was broken. Some of her fear left, but it just increased again when whatever that had dropped her started pushing her down deeper into the water.

Her fear disappeared completely when she remembered Percy. He would save her, right?

* * *

**Please review and tell me what you think of the story so far and if you think that I should continue this fanfiction! :)**

**Thanks! :)**

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	11. Percy XI

**Author's Note: Hi! :) I'll try to make this A/N short. I realized that the past chapters have been short, but I needed each one to end where it did. But, I tried to make this one longer for you guys! :)**

**Please review and tell me what you think of the story! :) Thanks!**

**Replies: **

**Jay: Thank you so much! That's all I can say. Your review made me so happy! I try to write as much as I can whenever possible, so... yeah! :) Thanks again, and I hope you continue to read this story and enjoy the rest of the chapters! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO. I don't own the character from the series either. Rick Riordan owns all of that, as well as the Mark of Athena book.**

* * *

Chapter 11

PERCY

* * *

He tried to grab on to Annabeth's hand as she was pulled away, but the monster was too fast. Percy recognized it to be a Gegeine, otherwise known as an Earthborn, though he might be wrong. He didn't have the greatest monster-identifying abilities. He usually left that to Annabeth and the dictionary of monsters that she seemed to have memorized.

Percy ran after her, but had to dodge to the side when another Gegeine swiped at him. Uncapping Riptide, he swung at the giant, and in the corner of his eyes he saw Annabeth being thrown off the side of the ship.

Leo, Hazel, Thalia, and Frank were nowhere to be seen, and Jason and Piper were fighting three or four giants on the other side of the deck. They were actually fighting pretty well, but there were more Earthborn than demigods, and they were battling close range, so they probably would be overwhelmed soon unless something amazing happened.

_Nice way to stay positive, _Percy reprimanded himself. _Wait, right, there's a battle. Stop it, ADHD._

Percy had to break his gaze away from them, though, to fight the Gegeine that was trying to kill him.

He expected it to be relatively easy, but the giant easily dodged and backed up when Percy slashed its arm with Riptide. At first, he thought that the giant was going to leave, but he just moved backwards so he could throw some rocks at Percy.

Where he got the rocks from—Percy didn't know. What he did know was that they were big and pointy, and some were probably deadly. He ended up hopping from foot to foot like a hyper second-grader, while trying to get close enough to kill it. Eventually, he realized that it wouldn't work. The six-handed giant was purposely keeping away, because it knew that's where it would have the advantage.

Percy finally risked a look around to see where his friends were, and when he did, he felt like jumping overboard.

Jason and Piper had disappeared; maybe they had been thrown into the water like Annabeth. Hazel, Frank, Thalia, and Leo—Percy didn't even know where they had been before. And if they were all in the water, and hadn't surfaced, as far as Percy knew, that was bad. Especially for Jason, Thalia, and Hazel. Frank would be fine, but he didn't know about Leo and Piper. Annabeth, she could probably handle it.

Still, seeing his friends missing—well _not_ seeing his friends, spurred him on. He felt that familiar tugging sensation in his gut, not as intense as usual, which sort of surprised Percy, and the water exploded, encasing the two or three Earthborn that were left.

The giants were floating a few feet above the ground, and they were flailing their arms around trying to send rocks flying at Percy, but the water wouldn't allow them.

Percy ran up to them, and simply stabbed them through the water, sending the golden monster dust falling to the ground, mixing with the pure, clean water. It was an odd sight that disturbed him for some reason—the monster dust swirling around in water.

He shook the thought out of his head and swiftly killed the other giants. It felt too easy, like the giants weren't trying that hard to kill him, which unnerved Percy.

Percy took a deep breath in when he killed the last giant and raced towards the railing of the Argo II to save his friends.

Suddenly the world turned upside down. Percy realized that the boat had flipped—by whom and how, he didn't know, but he had other priorities.

With some difficulty, he swam out from under the ship, navigating through the things attached to the main deck.

He panicked when he didn't see any of his friends down there. He realized that if he couldn't get to his friends right then, he might as well try to push the ship upright.

He felt the pull in his gut again, this time as strong as usual. Swimming over to the side of the ship, he called the ocean to help him and directed it to push the Argo II until it was sitting normally again. The water responded to his call and Percy forced all of his energy out and against the wooden side of Leo's prized possession.

The ship submitted to the power of the water and kept turning over and over until Percy heard it _thunk_ onto the water, right side up.

He didn't waste any time and dove back into the water to find his friends. Part of the coldness that had been surrounding his heart lifted when he spotted Frank in dolphin form, along with Hazel, Thalia, and Leo.

Frank was struggling to pull Hazel and Thalia up, and Leo was on his back, half-conscious. For some reason, Hazel was being dragged down. Percy wasn't sure why that was happening, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was a daughter of Pluto.

The currents propelled him over to Frank, who smiled when he saw Percy. Well, it might have been a smile; it was hard to tell on a dolphin.

Percy grabbed both of Hazel's arms and one of Thalia's and kicked upward, shooting to the surface. When they broke into the air, he gasped and took a breath of air, which was odd. Usually he was able to breathe perfectly underwater, but it was harder now, which was also weird.

He laid Hazel gently down on the deck, and Frank dropped Leo. They both had been holding one of Thalia's arms, which had been awkward. They dropped her next to Hazel.

"Get the rest," Percy said, breathing heavily. Frank nodded, and they both jumped overboard again, Frank turning into a dolphin again as the water rushed up to meet them.

Percy dove into the water, swimming deeply, looking around frantically for the three other demigods. A flash of blond caught his eye, and he thought that it was Annabeth or Jason, but turned out to be some light reflecting against a patch of seaweed.

After what seemed like hours, but was actually seconds, he spotted Annabeth and shot towards her like a bullet.

Her face was pale and slowly turning green—which was not good. He quickly checked for a pulse on her and sighed in relief when he felt it beating.

He grabbed her arms, like he had done with Hazel and hauled her up through the murky water.

It was a hard process—Annabeth was taller and heavier than Hazel, and she had been deeper into the water. Even though he had also been carrying Thalia before, Frank had been doing most of it.

Annabeth shouldn't have been down there, she would've known to stay afloat near the boat, but not too close.

When they reached the surface again, Percy was tired and ready to nap, but he knew he couldn't. He used up his remaining energy to shoot the water out and onto the ship, sending him and Annabeth with it.

It wasn't the best landing, but Percy was pretty sure that no bones had broken.

He was dimly aware of Frank, Leo, and Piper huddled around Hazel and Jason, but Percy let them deal with it, since Annabeth seemed to be the worst off. He checked and felt her steady pulse again.

Percy wasn't the best first-aid person—he was actually really bad, but he did whatever he could remember from Camp. He nudged part of an ambrosia square into her mouth. Not too much, though, he didn't want her to burn up from eating too much of the godly food.

A little water squirted out of her mouth, which Percy hoped was a good sign. He squeezed her hand and felt himself slumping backwards against the deck.

He was too tired. Proper sleep hadn't happened since before the quest. Running on only a little dream-infested sleep was bad enough, but try doing that while fighting a giant or two, an army of ghosts and monsters, as well as surviving through a not-too friendly quest and a 'friendly' game against hostile Romans. It can take a lot out of a person.

The last thing he heard before blacking out completely was one of the other demigods, probably Frank, making his way towards him and Annabeth, calling his name worriedly. He quickly hoped for no dreams, but already knew that it was a futile effort.

"Well, well, well," Gaea said. Percy was back in the now usual cave. It was creepy that what might be Gaea's resting place was now a familiar sight for Percy.

"Go away. Don't you have better things to do?" Percy grumbled.

"I do," she said simply. "But this is also necessary."

"I won't join you," Percy said.

"Oh, young foolish one. I understand that now. All I needed you to do was to prove yourself, one more time, before I really begin. That was simply a test. You cannot even imagine what else is in store."

"You won't beat us. Ever. We beat the Titans, and we can beat you too," Percy warned.

"Ha! I have a much better force than the Titans. They were so disorganized—and based their whole plan on the foolish son of Hermes, who betrayed them. I will not make such mistakes. I will make Olympus crash and burn, along with those silly Olympian gods. Do not underestimate me, hero," she said, laughing.

"Yeah, right," Percy said.

"Ooh, well I'm glad I chose you know. Such abilities! You have proved yourself today, Perseus; you have proved yourself well. I am now sure about it. I hope you had a good time as a hero, because you won't be one for long, Perseus Jackson."

"What? What are you—" Percy started nervously. There was no evil, cruel, cold laughter this time. Everything just blacked out, like someone saw the dream, freaked out, and cut it off.

"PERCY!" Freezing cold water splashed on his face, which was not a nice wake-up.

"Wha-OW!" Percy jerked upright and fell back down with a groan. "I need to stop passing out."

"You think?" Frank muttered.

"What happened?" asked Hazel. She was wrapped in a blanket with a steaming mug in her hand. Jason had a similar mug, but no blanket. Both of their faces were pale, and Hazel was slightly shaking. They didn't seem to be injured, though, which was good.

Annabeth looked asleep, leaning against Thalia, but otherwise looked fine. That was really weird, considering only a while ago she had been practically drowning underwater, turning green and unconscious. Then, again, _everything_ in a demigod's life was weird. Which almost made it normal… Percy's head started hurting, so he shook the thought out of his mind.

Frank, Leo, and Piper looked a little on edge, but better than the others.

Thalia looked absolutely fine, but very, very mad. It was almost funny. Percy could imagine her in one of those TV cartoons, her face turning purple and steam coming out of her nose and ears.

_Getting off track_, Percy thought. _Stop it, ADHD._

"I'm not sure…" Percy said.

"Well, what do you know?" Jason demanded. "Weren't you the one above water for the longest?"

He looked pretty pissed off; probably because he had missed something else that Percy had taken part in…again.

"Well, um, I don't know what happened at the beginning," Percy said. "I wasn't there yet."

"Nothing much," Jason said impatiently. "When the ship started shaking, after we landed, Piper and I went up onto deck. Then, the Earthborn came at us and we fought until—well one of them grabbed Piper and dropped her overboard, and while I was distracted they threw me off the ship. They could've left us there, but they sort of pushed us deeper."

Annabeth spoke up. Percy hadn't even known that she'd woken up. "This doesn't make any sense. Why come to fight us, and then just drop us overboard?"

"Er—" Percy said. "I think I know. After you guys, you know, went under, they almost seemed like they gave up. It was easy to defeat the last ones—almost _too_ easy, like they weren't even trying."

"What's wrong with that?" Leo asked. "Maybe they were tired."

Percy shrugged. "It just seemed like all they cared about was throwing you guys off the ship—which is weird."

"Well, what _else_ happened?" Hazel repeated.

"After the last Earthborn turned to dust, the boat tipped over. I don't know how or by what, but it all just flipped over," Percy said.

"My baby—it flipped over?" Leo asked, glancing worriedly at the wooden deck he was sitting on.

"Why isn't it wet?" Annabeth demanded.

"I think I might have dried it, on accident," Percy said.

"On accident?" Jason spluttered.

"Mhm," Percy nodded. "Anyways, I was also flipped into the water when it tipped, and I figured that we needed the ship to be upright again, before I found you guys. It took longer than I wanted—I didn't know if you guys were drowning or dead, and I needed to find you fast. So, I willed the water to push it upright, and then—"

"Just like that?" Leo asked. "You pushed the whole ship over—180 degrees—just like that?"

"As I was saying," Percy continued, "I started looking and found Frank the dolphin trying to drag Hazel, Leo, and Thalia up to the ship."

"A dolphin? Really, Frank, really?" Leo commented.

"Hey, I was under pressure. I couldn't think of anything else," he protested.

"Will you guys stop interrupting?" Jason exclaimed, getting agitated.

"_So_," Percy said, also getting annoyed by Leo's constant comments, "I helped him and went back down, found Annabeth, brought her up, gave her some ambrosia, and then…passed out."

"And then," Leo continued, "Frank woke him up by yelling 'Percy!' and then Percy got up, groaned, and then fell back down, saying 'Wha-OW!' which I'm pretty sure isn't a word. Then he said 'I need to stop passing o-"

"LEO!" Piper exclaimed. "Stop it."

"Fine, fine, fine. Am I the only one here who understands the word 'joke'?" he muttered.

Percy grinned, despite the situation.

"You still haven't answered my question, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth grumbled. "Why did they throw us overboard and flip the ship? Why not just attack?"

"Flip the ship," Leo grinned. "That rhymes."

"Oh, you be quiet," Piper scolded.

Percy attempted to answer her question. "It was a test. At least that's what Ga—I mean I think it's a test." Percy said the last part quickly, trying to hide his slip-up.

Annabeth's eyes narrowed a fraction, but she didn't mention their earlier conversation.

"Gaea?" Jason demanded. "What about her?"

Percy sighed. "It's nothing. She just appeared in a dream… well, more like a nightmare." He muttered the last part.

He felt Annabeth glaring at him, like she was trying to read his mind. He ignored it, though, and continued.

"She said that the whole thing was a test for me. I don't know exactly _why _she wants to test me, but it can't be a good thing," Percy finished.

"Well, at least that's over now," Piper sighed.

"Hopefully, we can have a break now," Leo muttered, looking at the sky a little nervously.

"Leo, don't jinx it," Annabeth said.

"Well, I'm tired," Percy said. "So, I'm going to sleep now. You know, because all we've been doing is like fighting, talking, and passing out since this boat took off."

He walked away, not waiting for a reply, hoping that they _would_ actually get a break.

* * *

**Just a quick thing. So, my motivation for this has gone down a little after the real book came out, but don't worry, I won't just stop writing. **

**Can you guys please review and tell me whether you think I should:**

**a) Stop this story right now and do a 'House of Hades' fanfiction (it would be a sequel to Rick Riordan's Mark of Athena).**

**b) Finish this fanfiction and then do a 'House of Hades' fanfiction (it would be a sequel to Rick Riordan's book).**

**c) Finish this fanfiction and then do a sequel to my version of Mark of Athena (this story).**

**Thanks! :) Please review and also tell me what you think of this chapter and the whole story! :) Bye! **

**-smileyface9 :)**


	12. Frank XII

** Author's Note: Hi! :) It's late, but yeah. Here's Chapter 12. Ooh, it's a Frank chapter. It's my first Frank chapter, so please tell me what you think of his POV. Please read and review and tell me what you think of the story. :)**

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**Natasha Romanov: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! :) I hope you like this chapter.**

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**ReaderGirl: Thank you so much for voting. Also, thanks for reading and reviewing! :) I'm glad you like the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't PJO, HOO, and the Mark of Athena. I don't own the characters either. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 12

FRANK

* * *

If this was what the rest of the quest would be like, then Frank wanted to turn into a bird and fly to Antarctica, spending the rest of his days in the freezing cold.

That would be nice, right? A little colder than Canada or California, but that would just be a minor issue.

First of all, he was sick and tired of these little meetings. They happened like every half an hour now, only interrupted by the monster attacks.

Second, he was ready to pass out—also known as 'pulling a Percy'. Seriously, they had been on the ship for less than a day, and it had been filled with more monster attacks than a month back at Camp Jupiter.

Thirdly, some of the demigods on the quest were starting to freak him out. Like, Frank _thought_ that he knew Percy, but turns out that he barely knew anything about him at all. The son of Poseidon could flip over a huge wooden ship, for crying out loud. And why was he keeping all of these secrets? What was going on with Gaea?

Annabeth seemed to understand what Percy was talking about, but Frank felt like he had missed out on an important conversation somewhere.

He was pretty sure that Leo, Hazel, Piper, and probably Thalia and Jason were confused, also. Someone would explain it eventually. Hopefully.

After Percy left, everyone dispersed; most were going to go to sleep. Leo left to pull the ship back into the air again. They had all had enough with that river. It was funny though—they didn't even know what river it was.

Frank followed Percy into the boys' room. He collapsed onto the bed, not even bothering to see if Leo and Jason were there or to say goodnight to anyone. They could make small talk later… when Frank was less sleepy…

* * *

"Frank, Frank?" A voice called.

"Hmm?" He rolled over onto his stomach.

"FRANK!" The voice repeated.

"What?" Frank rolled over too much and thudded to the hard, wooden floor. "Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" Leo peeped his head in. "What are you doing on the floor?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's so comfy down here. I sleep here. Don't you?" Frank asked sarcastically.

"I didn't know that you have a sense of humor," Leo said excitedly. "Seriously, I mean, Annabeth, she's never in the mood for a joke. Jason and Piper just tell me to 'stop joking around and work on the ship, Leo.' I don't know about Percy yet, and Hazel doesn't seem that funny either."

"Great," Frank muttered, rubbing his bottom as he stood up slowly.

"Knock, knock," Leo said happily.

"Who's there?" Frank grumbled.

"BOO!" Leo said.

"Boo who?"

"Aw, Frank, don't cry."

"That's the lamest joke ever."

"Don't worry, I have more."

"Joy."

"So, there was a cow in the road, and—" Leo started.

"I have to change now," Frank interrupted.

"What—" Leo turned red. "Oh, I'll go now. Wait, no, this is my room, too. You can't make me leave."

"I'll just go to the bathroom now," Frank sighed. Percy was fast asleep in his bed, and by the lack of muttering, tossing, and turning, Frank guessed that he wasn't having any dreams. Jason was not there, though, and now Leo was sitting on the floor in front of his bed, fiddling with something. He didn't even know why Leo had felt the need to barge in, yelling his name, causing him to wake up.

Luckily, he didn't have to wait in line for the bathroom; Jason was somewhere else. He brushed his teeth and changed, and then headed back to the room.

Percy was still sleeping, but Leo and his annoying jokes had disappeared. Thank Jupiter for that.

He went back into the meeting room/eating/boredom/hanging-out room, where everyone else was eating breakfast, well, except for Percy.

"Hey," Frank mumbled, still tired.

"Hey!" Leo said enthusiastically.

Frank glared at him. "Why did you have to wake me up?"

"You were still sleeping," Leo said innocently.

"Percy was too," Frank pointed out.

"Yeah," Leo admitted, "But I figured, since he passed out so many times—maybe, just maybe he needed a good sleep."

"That actually makes sense, Leo," Piper said in wonder, "Good job."

"Shut up, Beauty Queen," he shot back.

"Well, I'm going to get out of here and wake Percy up before this turns into a fight…again," Annabeth sighed, getting up.

"So," Frank said, sitting down at the table between Hazel and the empty chair.

"Are we going to have another meeting now?" Leo asked, his voice showing his dislike for the whole 'sitting down and talking it out' concept.

Jason smiled. "No."

"Thank the gods," Thalia breathed.

Everyone stared at her.

"What?" she asked. "I don't like them either."

And then they started laughing. Maybe it was all of the stress and pressure of saving the world. Maybe it was the look on Thalia's face—whatever it was—it just made them crack up. They just couldn't stop laughing, and for the first time in a while, Frank felt slightly—normal. He was just laughing with other teenagers, who could be considered his friends. Well, it would depend on the dictionary's definition of 'friends'. Not that Frank would have any time in the near future— or maybe ever—to look into a dictionary again.

And that's what they all were doing when a very confused Annabeth and Percy entered the room.

"Uh—what? Did I miss something?" Percy asked, looking at everyone weirdly, especially the Romans.

"No—not really," Piper answered, trying to keep a straight face. "I think we're just all starting to go crazy."

"What?" Annabeth complained. "Already? But we still have practically the whole quest left!" She grinned at the end, though.

Finally, everyone sobered up as the last two sat down.

"Well—" Annabeth started.

"Jason said that we didn't have to have a meeting," Leo piped up, just to clarify.

Annabeth laughed. "We're not. I realized now that that was stupid."

Thalia choked. "What happened to you, Annie?"

Annabeth glared at her. "DON'T call me that."

The daughter of Zeus smiled. "There you are."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "_Anyway,_ I was just going to say that we're landing at Camp Half-Blood in like ten minutes or so. Leo, you better go to the control room now."

"Yes, ma'am," Leo saluted. He walked out of the room as Annabeth rolled her eyes again.

"Camp?" Percy asked. He had looked half-asleep before but perked up at the mention of his home.

"Yes," Annabeth clarified.

Percy looked relieved and then pained.

"I have a headache," he muttered. "I think I'm going to go sleep again. Wake me up when we get there."

"Percy—that's in like five—" Annabeth started.

He left.

"What's up with him?" Thalia asked bluntly.

Annabeth shrugged. "Beats me."

Surprisingly, it was Jason who spoke up. "It's probably all of the memories acting up. When Hera started returning all of my memories, starting in January or February, every time something from my past popped into my head—it hurt a lot. And seeing Camp Jupiter, even all those months later, hurt even more."

Thalia nodded. "So, what are we going to tell Chiron? That I'm going on the quest with you or…" she trailed off, looking at Annabeth, who probably knew the answer. She knew a lot of answers, as far as Frank knew. Honestly, he barely knew anything about her. Well, he knew her background, thanks to the 'share our life stories' meeting, but nothing really about her—the person.

Annabeth shrugged. "You don't have to."

"You're sure?" Jason asked skeptically. "He knows that bringing more demigods than necessary on a quest means someone will probably die."

"Don't tell him straight out. When he notices that you're going—there'll probably be other campers present. He won't say anything then. He might talk to you alone, though—tell you not to go. He can't make you stay, but Thalia, you should listen to him. Maybe you going… I don't know, I think it may be a bad idea—so many children of the Big Three in one place," Annabeth reasoned.

"So you're saying that I shouldn't go," Thalia said.

"Not exactly, Thals. It's your choice. Do whatever you need to," Annabeth said.

Thalia narrowed her eyes. "So you don't want me to come along?"

"No, Thals," Annabeth protested. "It's just…it's your decision, okay? That's all I'm saying."

Thalia nodded, but still looked at Annabeth, a little confused. Annabeth looked suspiciously innocent, like she was trying to hide something desperately, but realized that someone was figuring it out.

"Should we go wake Perc—" Frank started.

"THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING. I REPEAT: THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING. I WILL REPEAT AGAIN: THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN, LEO VALDEZ, SPEAK—" a familiar annoying voice screamed over the loudspeaker.

"BE QUIET, LEO!" Piper yelled, lacing her charmspeak into it, every so subtly, to make him shut up.

"Thanks, Piper," Annabeth muttered, glaring at the speaker above her.

"So, anyway," Leo's voice was way quieter this time. "Before Piper rudely interrupted me—" Piper rolled her eyes and Leo continued. "I was going to tell you all that we're landing. So, get out of the bathroom or wake up, or stop whatever you're doing right now, and get your monster-fighting demigod selves onto the deck for landing. Landing will happen in about a minute, so you better hurry. Leo, out."

The loudspeaker clicked off, and everyone hurried out of the room and onto the deck, not saying a word.

When they got up there, Percy was already there. He looked thoroughly confused and judging by the pained look on his face, Frank suggested the missing memories-related headache was still present.

He walked quickly over to the edge of the railing to survey the camp below him.

It was nothing like Camp Jupiter.

First of all, it was way smaller and more—disorganized. The population was also way younger than the people at the other camp. The kids looked like they were having fun, though, and it seemed like a more friendly/camp-like place.

There was a canoe lake, with teenagers and little kids lazing around in the canoes in the water. There seemed to be a place for arts and crafts, because there was a long table pf a building outside where one girl was knitting something and a little boy was making something out of markers, paper, and a lot of glue and tape.

There was also an archery range, where a dozen or so teens were shooting arrows at targets. They hit the center every time, with amazing accuracy. There was an assortment of cool-looking arrows, which Frank was just dying to try out.

Some teenagers were playing volleyball, and a nine or ten-year-old girl was hopping around between them, trying to get the ball, like a messed-up game of monkey-in-the-middle.

Another group of demigods were walking through a strawberry field, some just looking and inspecting, others down on their hands and knees, working with the plants.

There were dozens and dozens of Greek demigods, varying in heights, ages, and appearances.

At one side of the camp, there was what looked live a pavilion and an amphitheatre. There was also a huge climbing wall—with lava? There was lava on it, too. That was… interesting.

On the other side, near the strawberry fields, was what looked like stables, an armory, and a circular building that could be anything, really.

Near a hill at the edge of the camp, was a huge sky-blue house.

The wackiest thing, though, were the cabins. They were in the shape of a horseshoe, and looked pretty weird. They were all different colors, red, sliver, blue, gold, black, you name it, with weird decorations, designs, and patterns, making each cabin unique in its own weird way.

Frank tore his gaze away from the place and turned to the others. Percy was just staring at it in awe, and so was Hazel.

As he turned back to the camp, the ship thudded to the ground, and Leo came on deck to join them in the admiration of the camp.

He heard Annabeth whisper to Percy, "You ready, Seaweed Brain?

* * *

**Please review and tell me what you think of the story and chapter. I hope that you liked it! :)**

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	13. Percy XIII

**Author's Note: I know, I know, it's been a week since I last updated. But, I had an abnormally insanely largely huge amount of homework and work to do last week. So, I updated only today, and I missed Tuesday's update. I'm sorry.**

**Please review and tell me what you think. Also, please vote and tell me what type of sequel you think I should do (options are in the previous chapter). Anyways, thanks for reading! :)**

**Bad news. I will be laptop-less for the coming week, so I will not be able to update on Tuesday. I may not be able to update next Saturday, either. It will depend on how fast I will write. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on this story! I'm just having a busy few weeks. **

**Thanks for reading! :) I appreciate it!**

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**Guest: I'm going to continue, don't worry! :) Thank you so much for reading my story and reviewing! :) It means a lot to me. Thanks again!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series. I do not own the HOO series. I do not own the PJO characters. I do not own the HOO characters. I do not own the Mark of Athena book by Rick Riordan. Rick Riordan owns all of that. He's a lucky duck.**

* * *

Chapter 13

PERCY

* * *

He just stood, staring. People were starting to form a crowd at the base of the ship. So many familiar faces were reconnecting with their names in his head—giving him a splitting headache.

The whole camp—it used to feel like home. He could remember that. But, now—it felt… different. New. Wrong, if that was even possible.

He shook his head. It still was his home. It would always be his home. Nothing could change that, right?

Annabeth looked up at him worriedly. "You ready, Seaweed Brain?"

He nodded numbly. As he watched the camp, the blinding headache continued, but he couldn't look away either.

"Let's go," he whispered. He'd imagined it in his head—he and Annabeth holding hands, striding forward confidently, the weight of the world on their shoulders, but still smiling as usual; the camp cheering and clapping, hollering to have their lost hero back, the Roman and Greek demigods on the ship behind him staring in awe at the camp and the campers who were cheering for him. The whole scene had played through his mind over and over throughout the journey to Camp Half-Blood and at Camp Jupiter when his memory returned.

It had always played out smoothly, perfectly. But what was happening now—he couldn't have ever imagined it.

Stunned silence fell over the assembling crowd like a blanket as they recognized the person standing next to Annabeth.

He stared right back at them. Connor, Travis, Katie, Will, Malcolm, Grover—the names that had eluded him previously popped back into his head like they had never been missing.

As the memories poured in, he couldn't believe that Hera had the nerve to make him forget. Forget the war, his friends, Camp, Chiron, Grover, Annabeth, and even his own mom. He had forgotten it all and disappeared and even though it wasn't his fault, he felt guilty, like he had personally punched each of them in the gut.

One last memory—Luke, popped into his head, and he couldn't take it. He clutched his head and groaned, his vision going fuzzy.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked. "What—are you okay?"

"Remember," he mumbled, standing up straight again and letting go of his temple. "Remember it all."

Annabeth smiled sadly, like she sort of understood the mess of his head right then. She couldn't, though. If anyone, Jason was probably the only one who understood.

"It'll be okay, Perce. C'mon, let's go," she urged, leading him off of the ship.

A few campers dared to kill the silence, and their voices, though quiet, cut through the air like a knife into butter.

"Percy?" A voice asked. The source of the voice approached the boat quickly, parting the crowed.

"Grover? G-man?" Percy grinned, his best friend jarring him out of the sentimental, memory-headache state.

He jumped lightly on the ground, closely followed by Annabeth.

If this were his imagined reunion, the camp would break out into pandemonium, and friends would swarm Percy, clapping him on the back and calling his name in joy and cracking jokes all about his disappearance.

None of that happened.

It wasn't his dream.

It was real. And quiet. And… different. It felt awkward, new, and weird. Somewhat formal, also. It didn't feel like camp. It didn't feel like _home_ anymore. The home that it had been before.

Grover, however, was one of the exceptions and came bounding up to Percy, giving him a huge goat hug.

"Hey!" he said brightly.

"Hey," Percy replied, grinning, despite the odd feeling in the air. "Woah, your horns have grown!"

The satyr tilted his head forward so Percy could admire his now-almost-fully-grown goat horns.

"Cool!" Percy said.

The camp stared on in silence. "So, um…" Percy said, looking around.

The silence slowly melted away. A few of his friends came up first, and then more, until pretty much everyone who had known him was crowding up to welcome him home. Pretty soon it turned into the chaos that he thought would happen as soon as they arrived.

It still sounded forced, though—the greetings, jokes, hugs, smiles. It all seemed a little forced.

He looked to Annabeth in confusion, and she shrugged, looking puzzled as well.

Percy forgot about Hazel and Frank until Chiron welcomed him back and then said, "Would you like to introduce your… friends to us?"

"Oh, uh—sure," Percy said, blushing at the thought that he had forgotten all about the two Roman demigods who were going on a quest to save the world with him.

He gestured the two forward from their positions right at the base of the boat. They approached the Greek demigods warily. They were probably the first Roman demigods to ever step foot in Camp Half-Blood in peace.

"This is Frank Zhang, son of Mars and Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto," he introduced as they approached him, Annabeth, and Chiron.

"Hi," Hazel gave a small smile.

"Um-uh, hi," Frank said, still glancing around a little apprehensively.

"My name is Chiron," the centaur greeted warmly.

"_The_ Chiron?" Hazel asked incredulously.

Frank's mouth opened a little.

Chiron smiled. "Yes I suppose I am _the_ Chiron, trainer of heroes, if that is what you mean."

Hazel nodded rapidly, causing Chiron to chuckle lightly.

"There is no need to be so formal around me, Hazel. We are all friends here and are all being peaceful, are we not? You have nothing to worry about. I am not as scary as you may be led to believe," Chiron said.

"Yes, sir," Frank whispered.

"As I said, Frank, there is no need to be afraid of me. I will not harm you. You need not call me 'sir', either. Simply 'Chiron' will do. Though, I would appreciate it greatly if you refrained from calling me 'pony'. I am not as fond of that name."

Frank and Hazel both cracked smiles, even though Percy could still tell they were nervous in the Greek demigods' camp. They would probably be a little on edge the whole time that they stayed at Camp Half-Blood.

"Is that Thalia?" Chiron asked, spotting the daughter of Zeus talking with her brother, Jason.

"Yeah, she—uh, came with us," Percy said.

"Ah, yes. Lady Artemis told me about that. Her Hunters are in their Cabin right now, in face. We had our friendly game of Capture the Flag last night. They won, again," Chiron said.

He said the last part a little sadly. The Hunters won a lot in the 'friendly' games of capture the flag that happened whenever they visited, because of tradition.

"Would you all mind meeting me in the big house for a camp counselor meeting later today?" Chiron asked. "Frank and Hazel, you are welcome, as is Thalia."

With that, he galloped off back to the big house. The campers who didn't know Percy very well or at all started to leave, having only come because they wanted to see what Percy Jackson looked like and what was so great about the son of Poseidon.

Everyone came back again, to greet Percy again and to say 'hi' one more time, just to assure themselves that after all of those months, he was there. He had come back. His memory had returned. He still was Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, hero of Camp Half-Blood, and savior of Olympus.

The headache was back and stronger than ever. The memories, not only had they returned in a way too-short time, but now, they were staring him in the face, standing in front of him, waving, and greeting him again.

The buildings that held memories were standing in front of him. The people in the memories, most of them were right here. The people, the places, most of his old life was here. The moments from his past that had been forgotten had all rushed back in time to see the camp again, and it was making his head spin and flop and turn like it had never done before.

"Are you okay, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked. "You look a little sick."

'I'm fine," he assured. He was lying. Well, not really. Okay, he was, sort of. "It's just—a little overwhelming, I guess."

"Do you want me to tell them to give you some space?" She asked.

He grinned at his girlfriend. He knew that when she said 'tell', she really meant, 'yell and threaten them'. "Nah, it's okay. They miss me, and I missed them, too. Even though I was asleep for a while and didn't remember them even after that for a while."

Annabethe smiled. "Okay."

"So how do you think the camp will react, I mean, to Hazel and Frank being here?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shrugged. "They'll be fine, I guess. They have nothing against them really, right? So, they _should_ get along fine. _Should._ It doesn't mean that they _will_, but we can hope, right?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

Annabeth continued, though. "It is probably harder for the Romans to accept the Greeks. I mean, at their camp, some of them are brought up to hate us and to think of us as the enemy. Some of them aren't though, and some at Camp Jupiter just don't care about whatever happens to use. However, if the Romans think of us as enemies and hate us, then naturally, the Greeks will return the hatred. That could escalate into a full-blown war, which is the last thing we need right now. What we need is for some of those Romans to forget their hatred and loathing of us and to stop viewing us as the enemy. We also need the Greeks to stay nice towards the Romans, because their way of life is way different from ours. I mean, think about it. Look how different the Stolls and Reyna are. Even look at how different you and Reyna are, or how different you and Jason are. I don't think there's anyone at the other camp who's quite as crazy as Leo, right? I mean, sometimes he just drives me insane. The comments he makes—and the questions—I mean, sometimes, he's just so immature and annoying. Like a little hyper six-year-old kid. And whenever he gets too much sugar or chocolate or soda or tacos, he just goes nuts and—"

"Annabeth," Percy said calmly. "You're rambling."

"Oh, right—er, sorry," Annabeth apologized. "I guess this whole quest has me really nervous right now."

"Don't worry, Wise Girl. All of us are nervous, I think."

"Anyway," she said. "What were we talking about?"

"Oh, um—" Percy said. "How the campers feel about Romans demigods being her, and then you went off into your whole rant about everyone getting along, and how annoying Leo is when he has too much sugar—"

"Okay, okay, okay, Seaweed Brain, I get it," Annabeth said.

"So, do you want to go take a little walk around the camp again. Just like old times?" he asked.

"You remember everything?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I think. I mean, some stuff is still a little fuzzy, but I think I remember everything that is important," Percy said.

"So, not _everything_?" she asked.

"Yes, no, wait maybe—I don't know," he sighed.

"Just messing with you," Annabeth smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure that you remember everything. And even if you don't, it'll all become clearer and everything will come back pretty soon. Jason said that after the memories started coming back, they just kept on coming and coming and getting clearer and clearer until he could remember everything from his past and everything about Camp Jupiter and his old life. You'll probably remember everything pretty soon. Especially if you drank gorgon's blood, which I still do not approve of, just in case you're wondering."

"You're starting to rant again, Annabeth," Percy warned.

"I guess that I should work on that, shouldn't I?" she asked.

Percy nodded, and Leo, who had been standing by the boat talking to Nyssa, his sister, came up to them.

"Hey guys, hope I'm not interrupting something," he said. Seeing as they weren't going to reply to that, he continued. "So, Nyssa said that the camp counselor meeting is in like an hour, so you can have free time and do whatever you want until then, I guess."

"Thanks, Leo," Annabeth said as the hyper teenager walked off.

"So, how about that tour of the camp now?" Percy asked. "We have time."

"Okay, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "Let's go, just like old times."

* * *

**Please review and tell me what you think of the story and the chapter! I really appreciate reviews, followers, and people who favorite my story, so thanks to those who already have. Thanks! :)**

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	14. Jason XIV

**Author's Note: Hi, again! Hopefully, I'll be less busy now and will get back onto my regular updating schedule. My chapters have been getting shorter, so I decided to make this one longer and it's in Jason's POV. It was going to end at the line break, but I added a bit. I haven't been able to check this chapter much, so tell me if you see any mistakes.**

**Please review! It means a lot! :)**

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**Guest: Okay, will do! :) Thanks for reading and reviewing. It means a lot to me! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Mark of Athena. I don't own Percy Jackson. I don't own Heroes of Olympus. I don't own any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 14

JASON

* * *

"So, uh, how's it been with the Hunters?" Jason said awkwardly. His sister had started chatting with him amidst all of the commotion, but he suspected her of doing it just so Chiron wouldn't ask her why she was going on the quest. He didn't blame her, though. He might've done the same.

She sighed. "Okay. Artemis has been sending us on little things, though, like finding a son of Hermes, locating a daughter of Demeter. Hunting a wild hellhound. Nothing big, nothing too hard, nothing too exciting, and the hunters are getting edgy. Lady Artemis is with us less and less, spending more of her time meeting with the gods, not telling us why. It's so _frustrating_," she finished, kicking the ground angrily.

"Er," Jason said. "Well—you could, ah, talk to her, or them, or someone." He had never been the best people-person. Whenever someone had come to the praetors with a problem, Reyna had always been the one offering solutions.

Thalia grinned. "I'll think about it. Ah, talking to her, or them, or someone, will definitely help, Jason. Thanks."

"Hey, sorry. I don't know," he protested, holding up his hands.

"S'ok," she said, ruffling his hair. "I shouldn't have been rambling to you anyways. I'm the big sister, and I'm supposed to listen to _your_ rants. So, what's up, little bro?"

"Nothing much, and I'm not your _little_ bro. I look the same age as you," he complained.

"That's not how it works," she smiled. "If I aged properly, I'd be in my early twenties," she said.

"Really?" he asked.

"That's a weird thought, isn't it?" she grinned. "In the past nine years, I've aged three."

"That is odd," Jason mused.

"Anyways," she said, changing the subject. "It's your turn to tell me what's up. So, spill."

"There is nothing going on right now, you know, apart from saving the world," he shrugged.

"Good," she approved. "You have a sense of humor. If you didn't, I might've had to disown you."

Jason rolled his eyes.

"Come on," Thalia said, sitting down on a log near the volleyball courts and patting the seat next to her. "Tell Big Sister Thalia what's wrong in little Jason's life."

He rolled his eyes again, but ended up sitting down next to her. "You're enjoying this whole 'big sister' thing, aren't you?"

"Yes," she smiled. "Yes, I am."

"Hm, I thought so," Jason said.

"Wait, no. You're distracting me. You thought you were being very clever, but you're not. So spill. Why don't you like Percy?

Jason was bewildered. It seemed like Annabeth and Thalia could both read his mind.

"I never said that I didn't like him. He's fine," Jason said, denying what his sister told him.

"Yeah, right. I already have a suspicion, but every theory needs to be tested out," Thalia said.

Jason snorted. "Where did you learn that one? Your fifth grade science teacher?"

Thalia glared at him. "I learned it from my _sixth_ grade science teacher, thank you very much."

He rolled his eyes. "Does it really matter?"

"No," Thalia admitted. "But you're still avoiding the question: What do you have against Percy? I don't think he didn't anything wrong."

"If I tell you, will you shut up and stop bugging me about it?"

"No promises."

Jason huffed. "Fine, I'll tell you, but it's because you won't tell _anyone_, right?"

Thalia grinned and nodded.

Jason shook his head and looked at the sky, thinking '_why am I doing this? I'll probably regret it soon'_.

"So, you, know, I'm er—a bit, you know, ah, jealous," Jason stuttered through to the end and whispered the final part, as if somehow that would change what he said.

"What did you say?" Thalia was starting to smile now, so he was pretty sure that she heard, but he repeated it, just because he wanted her to stop pestering him about it.

"I'm jealous, okay? I'm jealous of Percy Jackson! Are you happy now? Just run along and confirm it with Annabeth, and then spread it around camp. Heck, go Iris-message the Romans and tell them that their _ex_-praetor, Jason Grace, is jealous of their _current,_ all-powerful, invincible, son of Poseidon/Neptune—whatever name you prefer, amazing, savior-of-Olympus, Greek praetor, Percy Jackson."

He ended the little ramp quite bitterly and expected Thalia to scold him and go on about how amazing Percy was.

"You have it bad, don't you?" Thalia shook her head. "No, I'm not going to spread it around camp. Did you really think that I would do that?"

Jason sighed and shook his head.

Thalia continued, her voice becoming softer and gentler—not like usual. "Don't be jealous, Jason. It won't help, at all. It'll just make the already hard task of working together nearly impossible. I know it'll be hard and sounds stupid and cheesy, but try to get to know him, please? I know he's annoying, but he's not _that_ bad. And you are awesome, too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you've helped saved the world too. And he didn't do it alone, and he reminds everyone of it all the time, so just give him a chance. But yes, I am going to tell Annabeth about this. Do you know why?"

She didn't even let him answer that. "It's because if there's anyone in this camp, anyone on the quest that can help you, that can solve your problem—anyone's problems really—it'd probably be her. Okay?"

Jason sighed. "Fine."

Thalia grinned, and her voice returned to its normal louder state. "Cool. I'll be right back, so please don't do anything _too_ stupid. Bye."

She leaped off of the log and ran off somewhere, probably to go and tell Annabeth, without even a look back.

He sighed and looked around. There were some kids at the volleyball courts—mostly children of Apollo, and they were just hitting the ball around.

Leo and Piper were talking outside of his cabin, and when Piper saw him, she waved him over.

He caught part of their conversation as he jogged over.

"Annabeth's worried—"

"I know, it's weird—"

"—hope he's okay."

Jason had a feeling that they were talking about someone on the quest, and it wasn't him or Frank.

Leo was in the middle of saying something when Piper cut him off.

"Hey Jason, where were you? We've been looking for you for like the past fifteen minutes."

"Uh, I was talking with Thalia right over there," he pointed the log they had been sitting on and started wondering why they were acting so weirdly.

Piper elbowed Leo, causing him to glare at her. She nodded towards Jason not very discreetly, and Leo's mouth formed an 'O', like he now knew what she was trying to tell him.

"Uh, cool," Leo said. "I mean, uh, that's awesome, dude! Great!"

Piper rolled her eyes at the son of Hephaestus.

"Okay…" Jason said, still a little confused. "So, what were you guys talking about?"

Piper glared at Leo like it was his entire fault.

"Nothing," she lied, looking uncomfortably at her shoes. "I mean, you know, the weather for the—uh, quest. It might rain, and we don't know how bad of a storm the Argo can handle without, you know, breaking."

"Uh-huh," Jason said, still not convinced. At least she hadn't used charmspeak on him.

"Yeah…" Piper trailed off, suddenly looking extremely interested in the volleyball game occurring behind Jason.

"Oh, look, your sister's coming," Leo said, breaking off a very awkward silence. He pointed in the direction of the Big House.

He turned around. Just like Leo said, Thalia was jogging towards them.

"Oh, um—" Jason said, looking back towards Piper and Leo. They were gone. That was odd. No, the way they were acting before had been odd, now they were just being plain _weird_, though Leo had always been a little unusual.

"Bye?" he muttered to himself, turning around to face Thalia, who, despite the distance she had covered in such a short amount of time, didn't appear to be the least bit tired. Hm, maybe being an immortal Hunter did have its benefits…

"You have a weird look on your face," Thalia commented.

"Oh, uh, what?" Jason said, snapping out of his thoughts.

His always-fifteen-year-old sister laughed lightly. "Never mind. It's just that, uh, Chiron wants to see you, 'kay? So you should go now."

Jason grew suspicious as to why the old centaur needed to talk with him now. "Why, what did you tell him?"

Thalia laughed again. "How do you know that I told him anything? Don't jump to conclusions, little bro."

Jason rolled his eyes at the nickname his sister seemed intent on using, no matter how much it annoyed him.

"He just wants to see you. And remember what I said, okay? If you ever need to talk to anyone about something, you should ask Annabeth. That one's too smart for her own good, but she'll help you."

"Wait—why do you sound like you're _not_ coming?" Jason accused.

Thalia smiled a little. "Don't miss a beat, do you?"

Jason didn't reply, so she continued. "Listen, I was talking with Chiron, and I don't think me going on the quest will help at all. You already have three children of the Big Three, one child of each god, and if—when you find Nico, he'll be the fourth. You don't need anyone else. You'll be fine."

"You didn't say that earlier. You _wanted _to go."

"I'm sorry, I don't want to leave you so quickly again after I found you, but I have to. I don't think it's a good idea for me to go, and plus, I need to help the Hunters. If Lady Artemis was communication more with us, I'm sure she'd say the same."

Jason sighed. She made sense. He'd wanted his sister to come, but just because he wanted her to be there, not because of the quest. And right now, the quest had to be top priority. Not their long-lost immortal sister-demigod brother bonding time.

"I knew you wouldn't mind too much," Thalia smiled, ruffling his already kind of messy blond hair. "Now go talk to Chiron, before he gets mad, though I doubt he will."

"Fine, fine, I'm going," Jason grumbled, heading off toward the Big House. He thought that Thalia had told, why else would Chiron want to see him? They weren't exactly best friends… Jason always felt a little awkward around the centaur, and Chiron felt probably the same way around him, also.

Percy and Annabeth were probably wandering around some other part of camp on their tour, because he didn't see them nearby. Why Percy needed a tour was a mystery to Jason; maybe it was so the rest of his memories would come back, or maybe they just wanted some alone time.

When he arrived inside of the Big House, Chrion was waiting for him, sitting in wheelchair form at the 'head' of the ping-pong table. There was a deck of cards on the table nearby, like Chiron had taken them out because of old habit, but there had been no one to play with.

"So, uh, you wanted to see me?" Jason asked. He mentally winced. Why was he stammering and stuttering and saying 'uh' so much recently? Was it because of Greek influence, or was her just more nervous in general than he had been before?

"Yes," Chiron smiled. "And there is no need to be scared of me. We've spent months together in the same camp, yet you are still edgy whenever we are in the same room."

Jason blushed. Chiron could practically read demigods' minds just by looking at their facial expression.

"Oh, well, uh, you know—" Jason cut himself off. There it was again—the stuttering. Why couldn't it go away? He didn't need any more help in appearing unprofessional to others.

Chiron bit back a small smile. "It's okay. All I wanted to tell you is please try not to give Percy a hard time."

Jason resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Is that what everyone was going to tell him. No 'bye' or 'stay safe' or 'don't get killed by monsters, please', just 'be nice to Percy because he's awesome'.

Chiron smiled again, just like he could read Jason's mind.

"I know what you're thinking right now, and no, it's not because I can read your mind. You just remind me of someone else, and I know what he would be thinking right now."

Jason just stared at the centaur, who decided it was time to continued.

"Anyway," he said, "It's because he has something in store for him, and it's not something to be envied for. It's something bad. Horrible, in fact. I wish with all my heart that that will not be his fate, but the Fates aren't always on our side, now are they?"

This just left Jason more confused.

Chiron sighed. "I'm just confusing you more. Something—someone, I should say, has something that's not very pleasant in store for Percy. And no, it's not because he's the most powerful or most important. It's because he happens to have something it, or rather the enemy, wants—needs. And he will not want to give into them. But, they will try and force him."

Jason stared blankly at Chiron, waiting for him to get to the point.

"I've said too much," Chiron sighed, and just like that, the thunder overhead rumbled. "Just help him, please. He is sometimes too cocky and rash, and needs someone there for him. You all do."

"Okay…" Jason trailed off.

Chiron smiled, sadly, though, this time. "You all have hard times ahead of you, and I know this probably won't make you feel any better. In fact, it'll probably make you feel even worse about this than you did before, but I needed to inform you."

"Should I… tell Percy?" Jason asked.

"No, no, that's not necessary. Don't tell Annabeth, either, or anyone, in fact. If Percy found out, he'd be too worried to fight, and Annabeth… well, she's a smart girl. Very smart. She just might connect the dots and figure it out, because of all those old myths I used to tell her when she was younger."

"Okay," Jason said. It wouldn't help them at all on the quest, though, if they already had a ton of secrets, but if Chiron didn't want him to tell, there wasn't much he could really do about it.

"And, about your little 'problem', the campers exaggerate. Half of the things you've heard have probably never happened. So, keep a clear mind. You have saved the world as well. But, who does it is not the most important thing. The world just needs saving, that is all that is important right now. Don't let any unnecessary trouble get in your way, Jason," Chiron advised.

Jason blushed. "Thalia told you, didn't she?"

Chiron nodded and smiled. "Yes, she did."

Jason sighed. "And, uh, thanks Chiron. For everything you've done."

Chiron smiled sadly again, which wasn't helping Jason's already pessimistic mood. "Stay safe Jason, and please, refrain from being killed by monsters—or anyone else too. I hope isn't final, but goodbye, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

* * *

Jason walked out of the Big House in a daze, with what Chiron had said spinning in his head. What—who was going to do what to Percy. Chiron hadn't answered any of his questions. He had just created more. Jason shook his head. They'd figure it out—eventually, hopefully. Maybe. Oh well.

He headed toward the dining pavilion. They were planning on staying the night and leaving the next day, probably after lunch. It wasn't going to be a long stay, just a time so they could pick up supplies. Plus, Percy was going to see his mom in the morning before they left.

He could understand that part. If his mother was still alive and as nice as Sally Jackson was (he'd met her once), he'd want to visit her as soon as possible after being missing for eight months.

Everyone else except for he and Chiron had already arrived. Jason looked behind him, and Chiron wasn't following. Maybe he had decided to stay in the Big House for dinner and think more about whatever horrible thing was going to happen to Percy.

Thinking of Percy, he wasn't looking too good. He was actually looking horrible, in fact. He was sitting alone at the Poseidon table, and instead of looking happy, he looked tired, sad, scared, confused, mad, and lonely. How Jason could read all of that from one expression, he wasn't exactly sure, but what he did know for sure was that Percy was not having a good day.

He could ask him about that later.

Now, it was time to eat. Jason was hungry.

* * *

**I just had to end it there! :) Please review! It only takes a second or few and means a lot to me! Thanks!**

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	15. Percy XV

**Author's Note: Here you go! Chapter 15. I can't believe we're already at Chapter 15! I've been doing Percy POV a lot, so I'll probably do other POV's for a while after this. This chapter is long(er) to make up for my messed-up updating schedule recently.**

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**THE CRITIC: I know, he's supposed to be a little OOC, because of part of the plot that's revealed a little in this chapter and completely in later chapters. But, thanks for reading and reviewing! I appreciate it! :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. I don't own HOO. I don't own the Mark of Athena. I don't own any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

**This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has been affected by Hurricane Sandy. I hope you guys are okay!**

* * *

Chapter 15

PERCY

* * *

The day just couldn't get any better, could it?

Well, it could, if Percy got to see his mom, but that would be happening tomorrow.

So, it couldn't get better.

But, apparently, it could get a whole lot worse.

Enough of that for now, that part comes later.

Anyway, Percy and Annabeth were walking around camp. The 'tour' was just giving him more of a headache, but it also helped. The last few memories were now scrambling into place.

Despite what some must think, it was a real tour. He _might've_ been able to find his way around camp, but it would be a little hard. It would be like a huge case of walking déjà vu.

They were walking in silence, but not an awkward one.

"So," Annabeth said finally, "You're going to go to your mom's tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," Percy smiled. "I wish I could go today, but—"

"We told you, Perce. Your mom doesn't know that you're back yet, so she and Paul are going out for dinner, and we wanted to surprise them," Annabeth said.

"Yes, yes, I know," Percy said. "But I still wanna go."

"Silly Seaweed Brain," Annabeth smiled, smacking him lightly on the head.

"Ow," he said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

Percy grinned. "When's dinner?"

Percy grinned. "When's dinner?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes again. "You're always thinking about food aren't you?"

"Who isn't?" he asked.

"People who have better things to do, like saving the world," Annabeth said.

"Touché" Percy said.

After a few more minutes of silence, Annabeth spoke up again. "Sorry, but I have to go. It's my turn for cabin inspection."

"What?" Percy asked, "But you just got back."

Annabeth shrugged. "I don't really mind. It's not that bad."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Percy asked.

"It's okay. You can wander around the camp a little more. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, bye," Annabeth said, walking away.

"Bye," Percy waved, as she left.

As he neared the canoe lake, Percy was vaguely aware of a faint buzzing sound, like the hum of power. Nothing unusual happened, though, so Percy brushed it off as his imagination.

When he got to the lake, though, things seemed even more suspicious.

The water splashed up and down, then up and down again, way higher than the usual for that time of day. Percy again brushed it off again as the water reacting to the son of the sea god's presence.

But it had never reacted this much… had it?

His questions were soon answered, because something—someone, actually, materialized right in front of him.

The fishing pole, the bright eyes, the funny-looking clothing all gave it away.

"Dad?" Percy asked incredulously. "But I thought—you said that you wouldn't be able to come!"

Poseidon simply waved Percy's question off. "Don't have much time. Zeus doesn't know about this yet."

"But, what—"

"Hush," Poseidon said, shocking Percy into silence. "I'm sorry for this, my son, but you need to know. Whatever they do, or say, or say they'll do, it's probably not true. Just don't give it to them, don't, please."

"Give what—" again Percy was cut off by his father.

"I have to go now. Zeus won't stay distracted for long. But, remember what I told you, and I know you'll do what's right when the time comes. Goodbye, and I'm sorry."

Percy turned away instinctively and grumbled to himself. Why was his father giving him these short, not informative, and utterly_ confusing_ meetings? They weren't really helping anyone.

His ADHD brain strayed to another thought. Why do the gods go into their divine form before they leave? What if their kids don't look away, huh? Then they'd just die, and it'd all be pointless.

Who on earth was this 'they' that Poseidon kept on mentioning? And what did he mean by 'whatever they do, or say, or say they'll do, it's _probably_ not true' and 'don't give it to them'? Don't give what to them? And did he mean that someone wanted something from him and would do or say or threaten to do anything to get it?

And if that was what Poseidon was hinting at, Percy really did not want to go on the quest, not that he had really wanted to go on it before, either. It's the gods' problem, so he should let them fix it. They stared it, after all.

He shook his head again. He was starting to think along the same lines that Luke had, before he went over to Kronos's side. He couldn't afford to think thoughts like that. No one could, now.

He realized that he had stayed in the same spot that he had moved to, to avoid seeing his father in his full divine form. Percy's stomach was growling now, so he decided it must be sometime around dinner.

As Percy walked by the original U shaped part of the cabins, he faintly saw a young girl in the hearth.

That was odd. Well, Hestia was sometimes there, but the gods weren't supposed to be communicating with or visiting the demigods. Even though many had broken that rule, Percy didn't expect Hestia to, mainly because she had no demigod children at camp.

She saw him and smiled sadly, before her image flickered out of the fire.

Even though Hestia was really nice, Percy had to roll his eyes. None of the gods were making this better, by acting like something horrible was about to happen to him and he was going to die.

He stopped for a while to admire the new additions to the wacky assortment of cabins. The Hermes cabin looked a little less beat up, like someone had updated it, and less kids were living there. That was good: at least more people were being claimed by their parents, and they were being claimed sooner and faster.

The new cabins showed clearly which god or goddesses' children lived there. The Iris cabin had rainbows on it and was painted brightly, while the new Hades cabin was all black and quite creepy-looking.

At least Nico would have a place to stay in if—when he got back to camp. And hopefully now, Hades and all of his future children would feel more welcomed at camp and Olympus.

Campers were filing out of their cabins, and once again, Percy was freaked out by the amount of kids that gods had, and how close they were in age. It was just—weird.

He shook that disturbing thought out of his head, earning him several glances like '_…uh, are you okay?' _from campers. He mentally yelled at himself, creating a reminder that this whole shaking head to clear thoughts thing would not work, and he'd have to do it mentally from now on.

He spotted Annabeth walking towards Cabin Number 3 for Cabin inspection. Percy ran toward her.

"Hey, what—you can't do that. I just got back!" Percy said. He decided not to tell her about Poseidon said for a while and act like noting happened. There was no need to get her into a confused mood just because he was."

Annabeth shrugged. "I'm just giving you a score. Don't worry, the Hermes cabin did horribly, you can't get any worse."

"Have you been inspecting my cabin even when I was gone?" Percy asked.

She shook her head. "No. But now, you're back, even if only for a day, so you _could've_ cleaned it, so you _should_ get a score.

"I _could've_ cleaned it. But, I _didn't_. I haven't _even _gone in there yet," Percy complained.

Annabeth grinned. "Too bad. That's your fault."

Percy rolled her eyes as they entered the room.

"Uh, wow," Percy said. The whole room was clean, all of it—expect for Percy's bed. It looked like Tyson had cleaned it all, but hadn't wanted to touch Percy's stuff while he was gone.

Everything was polished and it probably would have gotten a perfect score, if Percy's bunk hadn't been such a mess.

"Uh…" Annabeth trailed off as she looked at Percy's bunk. Clothes were strewn on the bottom and on the floor, along with (very old) candy wrappers and a pair of shoes, and an extra pair of very dirty, fraying laces. The bed looked clean and wasn't made, but it looked like it hadn't been used in a very long time.

"3," she said.

"Come on, I just got back, and everything else is clean!" Percy said.

"Why does it even matter? Hermes got a 2, so you won't have to do dishes duty," Annabeth pointed out.

"Still," Percy insisted.

"No."

"4?"

"Tyson cleaned it all, not you."

"But _someone_ cleaned it. That's the point."

"You're not even going to be sleeping here more than a night anytime soon."

"4?"

"NO!"

"If you don't give me a 4, then I won't tell you the super important thing that Poseidon came here to tell me just a few minutes ago."

"What?"

"Oh, yeah…"

"I'm giving a three an you're telling me."

"What? No."

"Percy," Her voice got dangerously high.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine."

She laughed, and Percy rolled his eyes.

"You're mean," he said.

She shrugged. "I know. So, what is this about Poseidon coming to see you today and telling you something 'super important'?"

"Oh…" Percy trailed off. "That."

"Spill," she ordered.

"It's really not that important," he explained.

"Yeah right, Seaweed Brain, just tell me."

"Fine," he said. So, Percy told Annabeth everything. Even his suspicions about Poseidon was really talking about, though, without doubt, Annabeth would come to the same conclusions and more faster than he had.

"Mhmm," she said at the end.

"That's all I get? A mhm?" Percy asked.

"Well, if that's what Poseidon's saying and then with Chiron acting strange and Jason—oh, oh gods!" Annabeth said. "Is that? They wouldn't do that, would they? Right? Right."

"Uh, what? I think I'm missing something," Percy said.

"Oh!" Annabeth jumped like she had forgotten that Percy was still there. "Oh, forget what I said. It was nothing."

"And I'm Zeus," Percy said. Right then, thunder boomed ahead. He wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not. Annabeth glared at him.

"What?" he asked. Her glare softened, and she looked away.

"Nothing," she said.

"Fine, don't tell me, but let's go. I'm hungry."

"Always thinking about food, aren't you?" she asked, shaking her head.

"Haven't we been over this?" Percy asked, grinning. It was a little forced, though. He wanted to know what Annabeth figured out, and why she wouldn't tell him what it was.

Now he regretted not paying attention to those Greek myths and facts that she told him all the time, and the ones he had learned way back in Latin at Yancy, or even in later classes. Maybe those would've helped him understand this horrible conspiracy, which everyone else seemed to have figured out already.

They headed back to the dining pavilion, Annabeth having finished her last cabin to inspect. They were in silence again, but this time it was more of an awkward one, rather than a comfortable silence.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "So, I need to tell you something. It's about your mom. We might not be able to visit her tomorrow. I think we have to leave right after we wake up."

"Wait-why?" Percy asked. He really wanted to, and needed to see his mom.

"I don't know, it's just a feeling. And, I know you want to see her really badly, but we just might not be able to. I'm sorry."

"But, we _might _be able to see her?" Percy asked hopefully.

"Might," Annabeth agreed. "It depends."

"On?" Percy said.

"If we get attacked on our way there or not."

"Fine," Percy sighed.

"Listen, Seaweed Brain. I know that you want to see her, and that she really wants to see you, too, but we have to do what's best for the quest. I hate saying that, but it's true. And, if you don't get to see her, then you can Iris Message her. I promise," Annabeth said.

"Okay," Percy sighed.

Annabeth smiled sadly, like everyone seemed to be doing nowadays. "You'll be fine. I know it."

They settled back into the silence, but Percy's mind was spinning. The thoughts about what Poseidon had said were kicked out of his mind, replaced by his complaints about possible not being able to see his mom the next morning before they left again on the quest. It had been like what—six months since he'd last seen her. That was way too long. He just wanted to see her once, even if it was for only five minutes, but apparently he might not even be able to do that.

"So, uh, bye," Annabeth said, when they arrived. She made her way to the Athena table, and he shuffled over to the Poseidon table.

Despite what his stomach was telling him, he was in no mood to eat. Poseidon's words played over and over again in his head, like a broken record, and he scanned them, looking for any possible hints as to what on Earth was going on.

Usually, he wouldn't have done that, and he would've shrugged and moved on, but all the secrets being kept from him were started to really annoy him. It was like the last Great Prophecy: people knew it, and they knew it was about him, so they didn't tell him what it said.

Except now, what he was trying to figure out was not something just written down on a piece of paper in a dusty old attic (well, if it was a myth, it might be, but Percy was not about to go rummaging through dusty old attics, looking through huge Greek and Roman mythology books for something that would help him). It was a plan of someone (he still wasn't sure if it was Gaea or no) or something (but probably someone) to do something to him or say something or say that they'll do something to try and get something from him that they'll use for something else.

It was like a fill in the blank: _ will do _or say _ to Percy or say that they'll do _ so that Percy will give them _, which _ will use to do _.

So, basically, Percy knew next-to-nothing about what was going on. Well, the someone might be Gaea, but he still wasn't 100% sure about that.

Annabeth, though, could probably fill in all of those blanks, and so could Chiron. She had said something about Jason knowing, so maybe he knew some stuff about the conspiracy, also.

He realized that he hadn't touched his food or offered any to the gods, so he stood up abruptly.

He pushed in some nice mashed potatoes and a sausage for the gods, praying to any and all of them to just plain out tell him what was going on, though he doubted that any of them would actually do that.

It was still amazing to him how burnt food could just smell so good. Then again, pretty much everything about his life would seem amazing to a regular mortal who knew nothing about the gods.

He sat back down at the table. Percy noticed Jason coming in the dining pavilion. Jason looked right at Percy, not sadly like the others had, but more—confusedly and—jealously. Was that it? Was that why Jason disliked him so much? Because he was jealous? Percy pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Jason couldn't be jealous of him. There was nothing to be jealous about.

There was else something nagging at the back of his mind, though. What was it? Ah, the camp counselor meeting. There was supposed to be one, wasn't there? _Hm, oh well_. Just as he thought that, Chiron's voice echoed throughout the pavilion. Percy turned his head to the table, where Chiron was speaking into a microphone.

Percy hadn't noticed Chiron even being in the pavilion before, so he had probably entered with Jason, which brought him back to what Annabeth said about Jason knowing something about the mysterious conspiracy. Did Chiron tell him? And if they had just been talking about it, like Percy assumed, how had Annabeth even know about it? Did she have a clone? Percy sighed to himself. Annabeth did not have a clone, and he had to stop thinking like that. He blamed the weird thinking on the lack of sleep.

Percy tuned back into what Chiron was saying. He again noticed that he was using a microphone.

That was weird. Usually, Chiron just talked normally. Things _had_ changed while Percy was away.

"So, the, ah, camp counselors meeting has been postponed, because several people, including myself, forgot. All camp counselors report to the Big House meeting room right after dinner. That is all. Enjoy your meal."

_Well, that solves that_, he thought. He had completely blanked about it, and apparently so had everyone else, including Chiron, which completely supported Percy's theory that Chiron knew about the enemy's evil plan against Percy, told Jason, and Annabeth knew about it even though she wasn't there. That also completely supported the theory about Annabeth having a clone, but Percy again pushed that thought out of his head and focused on eating his food.

He briefly wondered where Frank and Hazel were and looked up. Frank was sitting at the Ares table, looking extremely uncomfortable. Hazel was just entering and looking around at where to sit.

Percy looked up at Chiron, who nodded, and motioned for Hazel to come sit with him at the Poseidon table. Hazel smiled gratefully and came.

As she sat down and started eating, Percy asked her questions.

"Do, pow'd'ya ike it hwe? Percy asked, while eating.

Hazel gave a small smile. "Don't talk while you eat. Finish first."

Percy rolled his eyes and finished eating. "Yes ma'am."

Hazel smiled again.

"So, how do you like it here?" he asked again, repeating what he had said before while eating.

"It's—" she looked around the dining pavilion before finishing her answer, "different from Camp Jupiter. I mean, not a bad-different, just different, right?"

Percy nodded. "Definitely different."

She continued. "It's not as strict here, which can be a good and bad thing, and the people seem more carefree, more like normal teenagers."

Percy nodded again. "And that can be good and bad, too."

"Yes," Hazel said, agreeing.

"But, overall, how do you like it?" he questioned again.

Hazel smiled. "It's nice, here. I like it. Maybe I'll visit you guys after this thing's over."

Percy nodded. "Maybe." He didn't know if that'd be possible. What if the gods decided that the two camps needed to be separated again and wiped all their memories of each other? He didn't mention that to Hazel, though.

"You're going to see your mom, tomorrow," Hazel said. It wasn't like a statement, more like she was trying to confirm it with Percy.

He sighed. "Hopefully. We might not if we can't, but I hope we do. I really want to see her."

Hazel nodded, and they finished eating.

"So, are you going to the camp counselors' meeting?" Percy asked Hazel, as they got up.

"Yeah, I think so," she said.

Percy nodded. "There's all lot to do."

Hazel looked up at him. "There is?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "There's a lot of stuff that we need to talk about."

* * *

**Feel free to tell me about any mistakes you see. I try to catch them, but I'm not perfect. Please review! It means a lot and I don't get very many, and I don't want to do those things where you guys have to review a certain amount of times for me to update. Because, it's really the reviews that make me write more! **

**Thanks again for reading and please review! :)**

**-smlieyface9 :)**


	16. Hazel XVI

**Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I'll be updating once a week now, because I can't keep up with the twice-a-week updates. Sorry! Here's another chapter in Hazel's POV. I'll try to get to Leo's POV soon!**

**If you guys find any mistakes in this chapter, feel free to tell me, and I'll change it if needed! :)  
**

**I do believe that this story has hit 50,000 words now! Yay! Please review, though. I'm not getting that many, and I don't know if that means you guys don't like it or if you just don't want to review, or what, so please review! It means a lot to mean, and I'd really appreciate it! :)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. I don't own HOO. I don't own the Mark of Athena. I don't own any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 16

HAZEL

* * *

Hazel looked up at Percy curiously. How many secrets was he keeping? Forget that, how many secrets was everyone keeping? Well, she wasn't really one to talk: she had some secrets of her own, but they were private, like really private, and she wasn't about to spill to just any random person she met a day ago, no matter how nice they seemed.

Maybe eventually, she would tell the rest of the crew. Jason, she had known him previously, and she knew that she could trust him. Piper, she seemed nice, too. Like someone Hazel could trust.

Leo was another story. The similarities between Sammy and Leo were uncanny. The crazy grin, the way they could make people laugh, even their appearance, it was all the same. She felt relieved, almost like Sammy was back again, like she had part of her old life back again, but it was also nearly driving her insane. She didn't want her old life back now, when everything was just starting to settle back to normal.

The conflicting emotions that occurred every time she looked at Leo made her head spin, and she was sure that it wouldn't be long before someone figured out that something was up.

That someone would probably be Annabeth. The Greek daughter of Athena was hard to figure out. Extremely hard to figure out. Her eyes were like a tornado, accusations, thoughts, figures, and plans swirling around her head, yet still neat and orderly. She seemed to know what you were thinking by reading your expression. It was—scary to say the least, but also pretty cool.

She'd probably notice pretty quickly that Hazel always acted distant and fidgety around Leo and didn't like making eye contact with him.

Hazel focused back into the world outside when she realized that Percy was talking to her.

"—we're here," he finished.

"Uh, sorry, what?" Hazel asked, blushing.

"You weren't listening weren't you?" Percy asked, smiling.

"No," Hazel said, shaking her head embarrassedly.

He grinned. "It's okay. I do that to Annabeth all the time. I was just saying that we're here, so you might want to get out of la-la land."

She blushed again as Percy motioned to the open door of the house. Big House? Yes, that was what they had called it before.

"Sorry," she muttered as she went through the doorway.

Everyone else was already there. Hazel had no idea how. She was pretty sure that she and Percy had been one of the first to leave. Maybe they had slipped out, and she hadn't seen. Or, they could've teleported. Though, the first choice was probably more likely.

"Um, hi," Percy said from behind her.

"Hi," Hazel said quietly, making sure to avoid eye contact with Leo, as well as Chiron. No matter how nice he was to them, she'd probably always be a little scared of the centaur. He was a centaur, after all.

She made her way to the other side of the room and sat in the chair beside Frank, who was looking very uncomfortable because Clarisse, his sort-of half-sister was sitting on his other side.

Percy sat between two brown-haired, blue-eyed boys, also looking slightly uncomfortable. They could've passed for twins, but one of them looked a little older. Percy kept his hands on his pockets like he was afraid they would steal something from him.

She wasn't exactly sure about who their godly parent was, but if it was Hermes, then they probably _would_ try to steal something from Percy.

Hazel looked down at the 'official' meeting table and almost laughed. Even the Argo's tiny room looked more official than the couple dozen assorted campers squished around the Ping-Pong table with a centaur in a wheelchair sitting off to the side.

"So, you guys are leaving…again?" One of the kids next to Percy asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yes, Travis. And stop trying to steal Katie's money."

The girl, Katie, who was sitting on the other side of Travis glared at the boy and slapped his hand away.

"I only would've taken a few drachmas," he muttered.

Katie rolled her eyes and muttered something. Hazel heard, "Stupid Stolls."

Hazel smiled.

"So, yes," Annabeth continued. "We're leaving tomorrow morning, if not earlier," cue a glare from Percy, "and heading on the Argo to Rome, then Greece."

"Is everyone going?" one kid said. What was his name again? Will? Yeah, it was Will.

Annabeth fidgeted. "To Rome, no. Greece? Probably, possibly. Hopefully."

"Why not?" Clarisse's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Annabeth sighed, liked she'd expected this sort of reaction from the campers. "Because the prophecy says _seven_ shall go. Remember the times when we took more questers than three? Percy, Tyson, Grover, and I nearly died, and… Bianca and Zoe… they did die, so seven's enough. No one else is coming, okay?"

"I still don't like this," Clarisse muttered.

A boy sitting on the other side of her placed his hand on her forearm. "Come on, Annabeth. Can the seven of you really take on all of these giants, like the prophecy says? You need our help."

Percy spoke up. "We do need your help. In Greece. Not in Rome. We already discussed this with the Romans, and if we need your help, then you and the Romans can come to help us, and hopefully, you guys will work together. Until then, you guys should stay here and train, and we'll keep you updated on the quest."

"Why do you guys get to go on all the quests?" someone grumbled. Hazel didn't recognize them.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Trust me: I don't want to. And I'm pretty sure you really wouldn't want to, either." His sea-green eyes darkened until they could pass as black. It was a little intimidating, and made Hazel wonder exactly what Percy knew about the upcoming quest.

"So we're just supposed to—teleport, or something to the other side of the country whenever you guys need us? And get along with the Romans while we're at it?" Katie asked, looking back and forth between Percy and Annabeth for conformation. They looked away uncomfortably.

Jason spoke instead. "Yup. Basically."

"Great," Katie muttered. "Just great."

Travis elbowed her. "Lighten up."

Katie glared at him. "Shut up."

He stuck his tongue out. She rolled her eyes and turned away.

Annabeth smiled. "Anyway—" she was interrupted by a loud _thud_.

Percy was the first to react. "What the heck?" he muttered and ran out the door before anyone else could stand up.

A few seconds, some cursing, and a loud thud later, Percy's voice came thundering back into the room. Everyone had gotten up by then and was starting to leave.

"GUYS? Come out here. Like, now."

What previously had been a couple dozen teenagers walking out of a room quickly turned into a couple dozen armed demigods sprinting outside.

"Oh, fudge," someone muttered.

"Yeah," someone else agreed.

"How? But, I thought that the gods-"

"Why are there so many? One is bad enough!"

"It's not Dionysus. Don't worry. Well, actually, I'd rather it be Dionysus. They are kobaloi. Elfish, gnome-like, mischievous little monsters that change shape-shift into Dionysus, causing people to actually think that they were the wine god," Annabeth said.

"Does it have his powers? Like, are they as powerful as he is?"

"Don't know. Hopefully not, or we're in trouble."

"Great."

"Guys," Percy said. "I'd hate to interrupt your fascinating little conversation, but, uh, they're coming towards us really fast, so fighting would be nice."

"Don't need to be told twice, Prissy," Clarisse grumbled, and she charged.

Hazel ran forward with her spatha and attacked on of the kobaloi with her cavalry sword. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the remainder of the campers streaming out of the pavilion, weapons already in hand and ready to fight.

Really, they weren't that bad off. There were maybe, what, thirty copies of Dionysus? Well, if they had all of the god's powers, then they were dead. But, if they just looked like him and didn't have his powers, then they'd be fine. The campers would way outnumber the kobaloi.

Another camper who looked a lot like Katie came to help Hazel. She assumed that she was another daughter of Demeter from Katie's cabin.

"How are we supposed to kill it?" the girl grunted.

"Don't know."

Every time either of the two girls took a swipe at it, it would disappear and reappear behind them or somewhere off to the side, and it was all they could do to not get killed.

"It doesn't seem to have any of Dionysus's powers. That's good," the other girl commented.

Suddenly, a vine came all the way from the strawberry fields and came at Hazel. She cut it off and struck the kobalos, but it simply disappeared and reappeared to the other girl's, Hazel thought her name was Miranda, right.

"Spoke too soon," Miranda muttered as she attempted to stab the annoying monster.

"They're not immortal," Hazel heard Annabeth scream over the noise. "Stab it, two at a time, that'll do it."

"One," Hazel said.

"Two," Miranda agreed.

"Three," they chorused, and stabbed the pesky Dionysus copy before it could disappear or attack back. It slowly morphed form it's god-like form into an ugly little elfish creature, before it disintegrated into golden dust.

After Annabeth's little announcement about how to kill the kobaloi, the monsters were disintegrating into dust all over the place, especially when the campers continued to pour in from the pavilion and double or triple up on monsters. They stood no chance, really, with that many campers, but still, everyone was a little shocked and shaken up after the fight.

Pretty soon, the campers had stabbed all of the monsters.

Hazel grinned. But some weren't as happy. Percy and Annabeth, who'd looked like they'd just finished killing a kobalos, were arguing.

"NOW!" Annabeth half-yelled.

"Annabeth-" Percy pleaded.

"Percy, I'm sorry, but-" she started.

"Uh, hello?" Travis said, or was it his brother? Well, one of them said it.

Annabeth spun around and blushed as she realized that basically everyone had been watching them fighting.

Chiron was standing right outside of the Big House in full centaur form. He hadn't interfered, probably because he wasn't supposed to. He looked sad, which didn't really help the mood.

Annabeth's gaze hardened as she barked out orders. "Campers go to the campfire. Counselors, back to the Big House."

Percy rolled his eyes and pushed past her, stomping back to the Ping-Pong table room.

Annabeth sighed and followed him inside. The rest of the counselors followed suit. Miranda waved goodbye to Hazel, before wandering off to wherever the campfire was with her friends.

Hazel walked back inside, much more tired than she had been the last time they had sat around the ping-pong table.

Everyone sat down again, and this time, Hazel was sitting next to Frank and Percy, who had purposefully sat as far away from Annabeth as possible.

He was acting really upset and a little immature, which was not what they needed from him as they approached the actual part of the quest in which they would go to Rome.

"So I assume that you want to go now," Katie said, pointing to Annabeth, "and that he doesn't want to go," she finished, pointing at Percy.

Percy grumbled something under his breath that was too quiet to hear. Hazel smiled slightly at the floor so no one would notice.

"Yes," Annabeth said tightly. "But, we have to leave now. As you can see, monsters came into the borders and attacked us, which they haven't been able to do before. If that isn't as sign that we have to leave earlier than planned, then I'm not a daughter of Athena."

"Well," Leo said. "If we're going to go now, then I'd better go get Argo ready." He stretched and got up, muttering about lack of sleep.

"I'll go-uh, help him... with that," Percy mumbled, getting up and following Leo.

Annabeth sighed again. "So, we're going as soon as Leo gets that all ready, so I'm going to-pack and stuff. I suggest that all of you who're coming on the quest get your stuff ready, too."

She got up and left, and everyone starting leaving too, some to go to the campfire, a few going back to their cabins.

Not knowing where to go, and remembering where the Pluto cabin, rather the Hades cabin, was, Hazel left and jogged over to the Argo to find Percy and Leo.

It was eerily quiet on the ship and quite creepy. Hazel shivered to think that this boat would become her new 'home' for who knows how long as they went on this crazy quest. Not that this would be the weirdest thing she'd done. Being a daughter of the god of death and riches, having a magical curse, and dying and coming back always topped the list.

But, considering what the Greek and Roman gods expected of a bunch of teenagers within a small, yet unknown, time limit, dying and coming back could be beaten.

Hazel crept down the stairs of the boat, not wishing to disrupt the perfect silence in the Argo II.

The silence, no matter how much Hazel tried to preserve it, soon disappeared, though. As Hazel headed towards the engine room, the sound of bickering grew louder and louder.

When she was a few feet away, she could make out two distinct voices. She sighed as she recognized Percy's and Leo's. She could understand Leo arguing, but what was up with Percy lately? He had been more cold to Annabeth about leaving early than she would've expected of him, and he had been extremely moody the past day or two. Maybe it was nerves. But, he hadn't acted like this on his previous quest. Then again, his memories hadn't been returned back then. Maybe it was something about that.

Hazel sighed and pushed open the door to the engine room.

"It's supposed to go that way!" Percy said.

Leo rolled his eyes. "I built this ship. Don't you think I'd know how to operate it? The Argo's been in my dreams and I freaking drew it when I was a kid. In CRAYONS!"

"I'm the son of Poseidon. I can operate a ship by just snapping my fingers. Don't you think that I'd know how to operate it?" Percy retaliated.

"Both of you be quiet!" Hazel said, obviously exasperated. "There's been enough fighting today, hasn't there?" She finished that by pointedly looking at Percy.

He looked down.

"And it probably isn't important. So, Leo, just fix it, and shouldn't you be packing or saying bye or something, Percy?" Hazel said.

"See? Just let me fix it. Sheesh!" Leo said, turning back to the controls. He pushed some buttons, turned some levers, and a bunch of other stuff that Hazel couldn't follow. She didn't even know how he remembered all of that stuff.

"Sorry," Percy muttered, still looking at the floor, and then he stomped out of the engine room.

Hazel sighed and followed him, wondering what on earth could make Percy, who was usually really nice to people, so-argumentative and acting downright weird.

"Percy," she tried. He just walked faster. She jogged to catch up with him before he started climbing up the stairs. "WAIT!"

He spun around, looking surprised. She could understand why. Usually, Hazel tried not to yell unless she really had to, because she hated raising her voice at people, just like her mother had after the curse had gotten worse, or like some of the kids had back in New Orleans, or how some of the meaner kids at Camp Jupiter had, right after she'd arrived.

She (mentally) shook that thought out of her mind and focused on what was going on right now. She had to figure out why Percy was acting so weird, before he angered basically the whole crew and camp with his attitude.

"What's going on with you?" she asked walking the last few feet so that she was face to face with him. Well, sort of face-to-face. He was still quite a bit taller than her.

For a second, he looked like he was about to tell her. Then, his eyes hardened. "Nothing. Nothing's going on. Why would you ask that?"

Hazel sighed again. It seemed like she'd been doing a lot of sighing recently. Now that she thought about it, a lot of people had been doing quite a lot of sighing lately.

"Percy. You're lying. And you're a very bad liar. Something is up. I can tell, and I'm pretty sure than Annabeth can, and she's trying to help, but she doesn't know why you're arguing with her so much and just-acting so weird lately."

"I'm not-acting weird," Percy said calmly.

Hazel was beyond frustrated now.

"Percy! You're acting differently, and I'm your friend and I want to know why. Please, this is the last thing I need-you need, it's the last thing that we all need on this quest. It's going to be hard enough, and acting weird and being secretive isn't going to help. At all," Hazel said.

"Hazel, I'm fine. I promise," he still sounding like he was lying, but Hazel figured that if he wasn't going to tell her now, then she shouldn't press it. It'd just be a waste of time.

"Percy-" she said, one last time.

"Fine, okay? Promise," he said, and then did something that surprised her. He gave her a quick hug. Like a sibling hug, just brother-to-sister. Well, they were actually cousins (kind of), but whatever. Close enough.

He pulled back quickly. "See? I'm fine. I'll go pack now and say bye. Frank should be at the Ares cabin or at the archery range. Do you remember where that is?"

Hazel nodded. "Yeah. I remember." She really didn't, but she figured it wouldn't be that hard to find it.

He grinned. "Good. See you soon." He turned around and left.

Hazel walked out of the now seemingly less creepy boat to go to find Frank. Before she could even get to the Ares cabin (which she only remembered the location of because she'd just seen Clarisse walk into it and it was kind of hard to miss the blood red cabin), however, Frank came up to her, breathless.

"I've been looking for you," he said, panting.

"I was looking for you," she said.

After catching his breath, he started talking properly. "I ran into Annabeth as she was walking towards the ship. She said that we should stay on the ship since we didn't really have anyone to say bye to or anything to pack and because she was going to leave without us if we weren't on board by the time they take off in like fifteen minutes."

"That was one long sentence," Hazel smiled.

Frank had to catch his breath again a little as the two started walking back to the ship.

"Well," Hazel said. "I guess now, we really are leaving. No more stops, no more picking up supplies, no more meetings and campfires and proper sleep for a while, right? Straight to Rome."

"Yeah," Frank agreed and then sighed, like everyone seemed to be doing nowadays, "Straight to Rome."

* * *

**So, thanks for reading and please review! It means a lot! :) If you guys find any mistakes in the chapter, either about the mythology portion or grammatical or factual, then feel free to tell me about it in a review!**

**-smileyface9 :)  
**


	17. Annabeth, Leo XVII

**Author's Note: Hello! :) I updated a little earlier than usual, which means that you might get another update in the next couple of days. But you also might not. It depends on how fast I can write it.**

**Please Review! :) I only got one from the last chapter, so please tell me what you think in a review, even if you only say, "update soon". Don't be afraid to tell me any mistakes. I'll accept all constructive criticism. Thanks for reading! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Mark of Athena. I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I don't own the Heroes of Olympus series. I don't own Annabeth Chase. I don't own any of the other PJO/HOO characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that. **

* * *

Chapter 17

ANNABETH

* * *

"Are you ready, my child?" Chiron asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Annabeth sighed.

"Don't be so hard on Percy. You'll understand soon," Chiron said.

Annabeth sighed again. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

Chiron shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you'll understand soon."

Annabeth groaned. "I hate it when you do that."

Chiron laughed. "I know, but good luck on your quest, and make sure that they don't do anything too rash."

She grinned. "I'll try, but you know with Leo, Jason, and Percy, it's bound to be a little tough."

"You should go now," Chiron advised.

"I guess," she said. "Goodbye, Chiron."

He smiled before trotting towards the cabins.

Annabeth, with her bag of clothes in hand, walked straight towards the Argo II, only bothering to stop to tell Frank that he and Hazel better be on the ship before they took off, or they'd all leave without them.

At one point she spotted Percy coming from somewhere, going somewhere else, but she remembered their previous arguments and kept on walking towards the ship, picking up the pace.

When she got there, she assumed that no one else would be on board, considering that Frank would probably still be looking for Haze, Percy was going who-knows-where, Leo had probably gone to pack, Piper would probably still be saying bye to her cabin mates and ensuring that Drew wouldn't be horrible to them when she resumed her position as the head of the Aphrodite cabin, and Jason would probably still be packing.

She hummed softly as she travelled through the dark ship to get to the girls' room. It was some song she'd heard previously, and since she hadn't really been listening, the lyrics and title had escaped her memory, leaving just the annoyingly catchy tune behind. The fact that she didn't know the lyrics was bugging her to no end.

Annabeth was surprised to find that Piper was already there, stowing her duffel bag underneath one of the beds.

"Hey," Annabeth said.

Piper leaped to her feet, unsheathing Katoptris, her eyes wild.

"Woah, it's just me, Annabeth," she said.

"Oh," Piper sighed in relief, putting away her dagger, "Sorry. I guess that I'm just a little paranoid after that attack earlier today. What was it that attacked us, again? Kodalos?"

Annabeth smiled and shook her head. "Kobaloi. Singular form: Kobalos."

Piper grinned and rolled her eyes.

Annabeth smiled again. She liked Piper a lot. She reminded Annabeth of Silena Beauregard, an Aphrodite camper who had been really sweet and kind at the end, not just caring about her appearance and breaking boys' hearts all of the time.

They hadn't become _best_ friends over the past few months, since they had been so busy, but it'd been nice to have someone to talk to whenever she needed to talk. So, they'd become pretty close friends.

"All packed?" Piper asked.

"Yup," Annabeth said.

"Me too," Piper said.

"Is anyone else here?" Annabeth asked.

"Well," Piper said, "I think that Jason is in the boys' room, and when I came on the ship, I saw Leo running off, probably to pack last-minute, I saw Hazel and Frank heading over, and Percy's probably coming. Oh, and Thalia's in the kitchen."

"What? I thought that she's not coming," Annabeth said.

"She isn't. I think that she just wanted to say bye, and then she got hungry and raided the food supply."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "We don't have much food and Camp has an unlimited food supply. Does she really have to eat _our_ food?"

Piper grinned. "You should go say bye to her and kick her out before she eats all of it.

"Agreed," Annabeth said, smiling back at Piper. She put her clothes bag under one of the beds and walked out of the girls' room.

She made her way to the small kitchen area, still thinking about the quest. They only had a partial prophecy, not even the whole thing yet. Usually, prophecies tended to come before the quest, not in the middle of one, and it looked like that was going to happen this time.

Thalia was rummaging through the cupboards. She couldn't eat all of their food supply, because Lou Ellen had helped out and charmed some of the food to replenish itself automatically when supplies ran low. Not all food could be magically replaced, however.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and tapped her huntress friend on the shoulder.

"Wha-" Thalia spun around, her hand already fingering her bracelet-shield, Aegis.

"Just me," Annabeth grinned.

"Sorry, I've just been a little-paranoid, lately," Thalia admitted.

"Hasn't everyone?" Annabeth muttered.

"Hm?" Thalia asked absentmindedly, turning back to the food supply.

"Nothing. So, uh, why are you here? I mean, besides for the reason of eating all of our food that we need for our quest," Annabeth said, snatching a pack of cookies out of Thalia's hands.

Thalia's triumphant look of finding something good to eat vanished quickly. "To say bye, of course. Do you think I'd just let you leave without saying bye. Oh, and Rachel wanted me to tell you something."

"What? Tell me what?" Annabeth asked impatiently.

Thalia smiled and rolled her eyes. "Just that she's had no prophecy yet. Tough luck. But, if she finds anything else, she'll IM you."

"'Kay, well, bye," Annabeth said, waving and trying to close the cupboard door.

Thalia rolled her eyes again. "Someone's getting impatient."

"Well, I'm sorry," Annabeth said, "But I think that if a bunch of monsters invade camp, and we don't even know how they got in camp in the first place, it'd be better for everyone if we left like, now."

Thalia gave her a quick hug. "Well, I'll be off, then. See you later, Annie, and stay alive, please. Dying can really ruin your day."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Bye, Thals. I'll try. And don't call me Annie."

Thalia winked before she left. "Then don't call me Thals."

Annabeth grinned and put the cookies away. Thalia really had made a mess. All of the snacks had been rearranged and some were on their sides or on the counter. Complaining under her breath about hungry daughters of Zeus, she put everything back in the right place, only to find out that Thalia had already opened the cookie bag and a few were missing.

She folded the top shut and put the cookies back in, closing the cupboard door afterwards.

Hoping that everyone else was on board, Annabeth walked up onto deck.

She hadn't been _trying_ to be mean to Percy, and she knew how much he wanted to see his mom, but she had had a bad feeling about stopping at camp. After the monster attack, which should've been impossible, given camp's impenetrable boundaries, there was no way that she'd let them stay longer than absolutely necessary.

Besides, he could Iris Message his mom. He hadn't done so already because he had wanted to surprise her (more like give her a heart attack), but now, since he wouldn't be able to surprise her, Iris-Messaging would be perfectly fine.

Also, it wasn't completely her decision. They needed to save Nico quickly, and everyday spent at the camps was one waster. Nico could be dying for all they knew. The quest was on a (still unknown) time limit, and they had to treat it like they only had a small amount of time to get to Rome (and later Greece).

On the way up to deck, Annabeth popped her head into the girls' room and found no one in there.

When she finally arrived at the deck, it was no surprise that everyone was already there. Who knew that threatening people about leaving on a dangerous quest without them if they didn't hurry up would work? Well, Annabeth certainly did. That's why she had done so.

Piper was leaning on the balcony, talking to Leo (who was supposed to be preparing the ship for takeoff), Hazel was standing next to Percy, but they weren't talking, Jason was patting his pockets, double-checking that the Stolls hadn't stolen anything _too_ important, and Frank was sitting on the deck, against the railing, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Annabeth looked at the sky, wondering, '_really? _We're_ supposed to save the world from Gaea and the giants?'_

Thunder rumbled ominously overhead as if to say '_yes, basically. Good luck with that.'_

Annabeth groaned, maybe a little too loudly. Jason and Frank turned around quickly, looking at Annabeth, probably wondering if she was crazy.

She smiled back sheepishly before crossing the deck quickly to talk to Percy. As she came closer, Hazel shot her a sympathetic smile before going to talk with someone else.

"No prophecy yet. If Rachel learns anything, she said she'll IM us," Annabeth said.

Percy nodded stiffly. Annabeth sighed.

"Look, Percy, I know—"

"It's okay, Annabeth I get it," Percy said. "We just can't stay. Saving Nico and getting to Rome is more important."

Annabeth pretended not to notice the important, yet unspoken words at the end, '_than me seeing my mom after all this time, even though that might've been my last chance.'_

"Percy—" she started again.

"Annabeth. I get it. It's okay. It's not your fault," Percy said.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

He sighed. "Yes. Don't we have to go now? It's 9:30."

"Yeah," she turned away from Percy and towards Leo. "Valdez! What are you doing? Get the ship ready. We're leaving!"

"Sorry—uh, almost done!" he called.

"Valdez, I can still see you there. Get your butt down to the engine room," Annabeth ordered.

"Fine, sheesh," Leo mumbled, jogging down to the controls.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She was ready to crash, even though it wasn't even close to four in the morning, which is when she usually could finally fall asleep.

Barely a minute later, the ship roared to life, and Annabeth walked over to the railing. It seemed like the campfire had ended, because the campers were grouped on the ground, with a few stragglers still arriving.

Annabeth smiled and waved at some of her friends, Grover, Thalia, Rachel, and most importantly, Chiron.

She couldn't stay made at the centaur for long. Sure, she was a little sour that he hadn't told her earlier, and was still not telling her everything, even though he'd told Jason.

She wanted to tell Percy so badly, after all it was about him (and Jason—for some reason _they_ didn't know yet—that confused Annabeth, after all, it was obvious, but hey, it was better for them), but he'd probably freak out and become even more moody, and she didn't think the crew could handle that, especially after the weird way in which he'd been acting recently.

Annabeth walked away from the railing as the Argo took off, and she couldn't shake the feeling that this quest would test the seven like the teenagers had never been tested before.

"I'm going to bed!" she called to no one in particular.

Hopefully, someone (cough, cough, Leo) would stay up to take care of the ship. Not that she'd blame him if he went to sleep. Annabeth was tired and ready to sleep, and Leo couldn't have been getting much more sleep, so he must be ready to droop, also. Not that you'd notice. Leo was hyper and almost jumping off the roof all the time and seemed to have endless energy.

She hoped to have a dreamless sleep. It was weird, in the past few months, ever since Percy had disappeared; she'd been going to sleep every night hoping, almost begging the gods for any sign of why they'd been silent or where Percy was.

In the past month, though, she'd been hoping for the exact opposite. She just wanted to know less now, and finally get a good night's sleep.

When Annabeth arrived at the girls' room, no one was there, which was expected, since Hazel and Piper had still been on deck when she'd left.

Even though she was tired, she had a nice, hot shower and changed for bed, because on a quest, there was no telling when you'd next be able to clean yourself or change.

She slumped onto her bed and drifted off into sleep surprisingly quickly, considering how long it'd taken her to fall asleep in the past.

_Wisdom's daughter walks alone,_

_ The Mark of Athena burns through Rome_

The words echoed in her head, causing her to toss and turn in her light sleep. Annabeth hated prophecies because you never knew what would happen until you lived them. You could never really predict or plan ahead, and that was what Annabeth loved to do.

She loved being prepared, and prided herself on being able to think of good plans that had the smallest chances of someone dying.

There she went again with her pride. She knew that the pride would lead to her fall, but she couldn't help thinking that the gods had messed up so badly and that if she'd been in charge, none of this would've happened.

She would've made Tartarus a temporary harbor for the monsters and immortals, and then designed an impenetrable, high-security prison fortress to keep the worst of the monsters, enchanting it (well, children of Hecate would enchant it) so the monsters could not formulate comprehensible thoughts, therefore greatly decreasing the risk of them creating plans to escape. None would be able to enter unless given permission, and...

A laugh. A laugh inside of Annabeth's head interrupted her plans and shushed her into a curiosity-filled silence.

Annabeth knew that she hadn't been the one laughing, because she was pretty sure that she was still asleep, and it definitely didn't sound like Hazel's or Piper's laugh, or any of the boys'.

'_Pride comes before a fall, my young hero. Before a fall...'_

Annabeth snapped awake. It was kind of hard to stay asleep when a creepy voice in her head started muttering to her about how she would "fall". Not exactly reassuring.

There was a clock in the corner of the room. It was 11:30. PM or AM? There were no windows in the room, which was a bad design on Annabeth and Leo's part. It also made the room seem sort of creepy. Piper and Hazel weren't there yet. She assumed that it was still night. She didn't know how they could still be on the deck, though. Didn't they get tired? That only partly dream-filled sleep was one of the best sleeps that she'd gotten since... well, December.

Annabeth got up and stretched. She hoped that the rest of the quest would be like it'd been since they'd left Camp Half-Blood. Nice and calm, no monster attacks, or anything crazy like that. The ride from Camp Jupiter to New York had been pretty crazy.

Yawning, she got up from bed and headed outside. She didn't bother to change out of her pajamas (which consisted of one of her old camp t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants), because all she was planning to do was grab a snack and yell at the others to get their butts to bed so that they wouldn't fall asleep while fighting a monster later.

She grabbed a little serving-sized box of cereal and headed to the meeting room, figuring that she'd better eat before yelling at them to go to sleep already. She walked into the meeting room (which had windows) and blinked a few times.

"Wait, what?" she asked incredulously.

Percy grinned. "Morning, sleepy head."

It was daylight outside, which meant that Annabeth had slept around 13 hours. Wow, just wow. She didn't that she'd ever slept that long, not even after coming back from a quest.

"It's—morning?" she aksed.

"Well, duh," Leo rolled his eyes. "You've been asleep for, like, forever."

Everyone else looked bright and cheery, fully dressed and completely awake. Annabeth felt like groaning.

She actually did, out loud.

Hazel smiled. "Someone's not a morning person."

Leo snorted. "It's almost noon. Annabeth's just not a people-person."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Stop it, Valdez. She just woke up."

Annabeth waved before sitting in between Jason and Piper. "I'm right here. I can still hear you."

She took a spoon (which thankfully was on the table—she didn't want to have to go back to the kitchen to get one and look like a fool for forgetting it) and ate the dry cereal out of its little plastic container.

Piper crinkled her nose. "Nice breakfast..."

Annabeth shrugged. "Why eat it with milk when it's perfectly fine on its own?"

Piper cocked her head to the side. "I guess..."

Percy, who'd been pretty quiet, spoke up. "So, Leo, when are we getting there."

"Well someone's an eager beaver," he muttered. "Uh, well, I don't know. We're still crossing the Atlantic."

"What?" Jason asked. "Planes would've already been there by now."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Well, this isn't a plane. Obviously. I stayed up all night making sure we didn't crash into planes or birds or people going parachuting—you'd be surprised how many people do that in the middle of an ocean-, and we're not as fast as planes, and if I push the speed, then the boat might break into a million pieces, and I don't know if Percy or Jason could magically fly us or surf us to Rome. Don't even get me started on the Mediterranean. We might have to fly higher, so that no one shoots us out of the sky, and who knows what monsters are there. Plus, there are going to be a ton of boats and planes there, which means that—"

"Woah," Annabeth said. "Leo, calm down. We'll be fine, and the boat's _not_ going to break. Nobody will be flying or surfing anyone else across any oceans."

Percy grinned. "Nobody will?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Really? Now, out of all times."

"Am I missing something?" Frank asked, looking very confused.

"Nothing," Percy said. "Inside joke."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "About Nobody?"

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other and at the same time, said, "Long story."

Annabeth immediately blushed, and Piper looked back and forth between the two.

"Wait, didn't we tell you guys this stuff a couple days ago? About all of the quests?" Percy asked.

Frank turned red. "Well, I do have a kinda bad memory. I mean, I remember most of it, just, you know, not all, or most of the details."

Hazel smiled. "Also, I don't remember you guys ever mentioning a 'Nobody.'"

"Does this really matter?" Leo asked. "Let inside jokes stay as inside jokes."

"Sheesh, we're just making small talk, Leo," Piper said.

"Shouldn't we be making big talk?" Jason asked.

An awkward silence followed. Percy spoke up a little while later. "Uh, what?"

Jason sighed. "I mean, we're on this huge ship and this big quest and everything, and here were are, discussing inside jokes and bad memories over breakfast."

"What do you want us to talk about, then?" Annabeth asked.

"The quest."

Annabeth grinned, causing Percy and the others who know her really well (Piper) to groan. "Then let's start planning the quest. I'll go first."

LEO

As Annabeth rattled on and on and on, Leo felt like strangling Jason. He just had to stop the 'small talk' and get her started about planning. She had only stopped once in the past ten minutes, and Leo was sure that she was just making stuff up now. There was no way she could have planned that much, especially without a prophecy. The plans had started making less and less sense to Leo as she went on, and the explanations of her plans started getting more and more complicated. He was pretty sure that now she was just talking to prove a point to Jason. Silly son of Jupiter, he should've kept his mouth shut.

"Then, in Greece—" he continued.

"ANNABETH!" Percy yelled.

She leaned back in her seat. "Ready for the small talk, Jason?"

"Absolutely," he said, nodding up and down like a bobble-head.

She grinned. "That's what I thought."

"I'm going to go, um, IM some people," Percy said, standing up.

"IM? I thought that no electronics were allowed," Frank said.

"Iris Messaging," Annabeth explained.

"Ah," Frank said.

"So, bye," Percy said, leaving.

"Who's he IM-ing?" asked Piper.

Annabeth shrugged a little. "His mom, Paul, either camp, maybe looking for Ella and Tyson. Who knows."

Leo nodded. He'd met Sally Jackson, Percy's mom, once. She'd given them blue chocolate chip cookies and told them that she'd been saving a ton of money without Percy being home and eating so much. She'd told them some embarrassing (but hilarious) baby stories of Percy and invited them to come back anytime. She was so nice to them that it made Leo want his own mom back, even though he knew she was gone.

Leo didn't even notice that he was nodding off...

"LEO!" Annabeth yelled.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "What were we doing, again?"

It was comical. They all rolled their eyes at the exact same time.

"We were saying," Annabeth said, "That it's time for lunch. Or do you not want to eat?"

Leo jumped up. "Of course I want lunch," he grinned. "I'm hungry!"

* * *

**Wow, I can't believe we're already on chapter 17! Anyways, I realize that there isn't a prophecy yet, so it'll probably be in the next chapter or the one after. Please review! :) It means a lot to me, and I'd really appreciate it if you did.**

**Thanks for reading! :)**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	18. Frank, Piper XVIII

**Author's Note: Hey! :) So, about the sequel, I put a poll on my profile. Please vote, because otherwise, I'll just choose whatever sequel I think would be best. **

**So, you've got a Frank and Piper chapter! :) Some bad news, though. My updating schedule for the next four weeks or so will be extremely irregular. I'll do my best, but I might miss an update or post late. So, sorry about that. I'm getting busier. Hopefully, the updating will go back to normal in about a month.**

**Replies:**

**0: Thanks for the review! :) And yes, I'm aware of that. It's temporary, though, but I needed to put it in there for the plot. Also, he has reason to be sad. Annabeth's not telling him something important, he's thrown onto another unwanted quest, doesn't get to see his mom, and is still mad about losing his memory in the 'exchange' program. But, if you read this chapter, he does start going back to normal. It was necessary for my plot (I've planned all this out), but also temporary. Thanks for reading and reviewing, though! I appreciate the criticism :) I'll try to make the level of OOCness go down! :)**

**hi: Aw, thanks! :) You're making me blush. I can assure you I'm not Rick Riordan, though. Thanks for reading and reviewing! **

**Enjoy the chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. I don't own HOO. I don't own Mark of Athena. I don't own any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 18

FRANK

* * *

Boredom. Oh, boredom. It was so… boring. The demigods had finished lunch an hour or two back, and they all had some free time before dinner.

He almost thought that listening to Annabeth plan for the quest would be more entertaining. _Almost_. He didn't really want to hear her go on and on again.

Frank then decided that sitting on his bed and staring at the ceiling was not gong to cure boredom very well.

He lazily got up and stretched. Not even bothering to check what time it was, Frank trudged out the door and up the stairs to the main deck. He wanted to see what everyone else was doing, and if any of it seemed interesting.

It wasn't that great of an idea, but really anything was better than staring at the ceiling.

Jason was sitting on the deck, fiddling with his gladius, bored. Hazel seemed bored. At least she wasn't feeling seasick anymore. That was good. During lunch, she'd run to the bathroom to throw up.

Leo was down in the control room, half-asleep, but still bored. Piper was glaring at her dagger, but otherwise seemed pretty bored.

Annabeth was reading a book on some Greek architecture, and seemed to be the only one who had something to do. But Frank did not want to start reading with her.

Percy, who looked way less angry than he had previously, was sitting on the railing, but he still looked pretty bored. Annabeth had said that he was the only one allowed to do that, since he wouldn't die if he fell off. She'd also said that Frank could too, if he really wanted to, but Frank didn't trust himself to change into a sea animal quickly enough while plummeting towards water.

Frank sighed. When he'd thought of what the quest would be like, he'd imagined monster attacks and convincing the other demigods not to kill each other, and meeting ghosts and Giants and gods. The monster attacks had happened on the way to New York, but after the kobaloi attack back at camp Half-Blood, nothing even remotely interesting or dangerous had happened.

He knew that earlier he'd wished for peace and quiet, but peace and quiet was just so… boring. So completely and utterly boring. Plus, there were only seven of them, so it'd be easy to get sick of hanging out and talking with the same people all the time.

Percy had Iris Messaged his mom and step-dad previously and was looking much happier afterwards. Not like full-blown ecstatic, but that wasn't really possible on a quest.

He'd also tracked down Tyson and Ella via Iris Message. Apparently, Octavian had started asking Ella some prophecy-related questions, so Tyson had taken her to Poseidon's underwater palace (with the god's permission), and had forgotten to tell anyone.

Frank stood next to Percy (not on the railing, standing on the deck), facing towards the center of the ship.

"What's up?" Frank asked.

Percy turned toward Frank, with a raised eyebrow. It looked like he was trying very hard to suppress a smile, but it didn't work.

"Why are you laughing?" Frank complained.

Percy grinned, shaking his head. "I'm not laughing, just smiling. Frank, if something were up, don't you think you'd know, too? We're on the same boat, same quest, we're living and eating in the same room, for Zeus's sake."

Frank and Percy both looked up to the sky, expecting thunder or something along those lines. Nothing.

Frank looked back at Percy, "I guess."

Percy nodded and then groaned, "I'm so bored. There's like—nothing to do on this boat."

Frank grinned. "Apparently, there was supposed to be a game room, or so I've heard, but that room was destroyed, during a game between campers and Hunters. Or, at least that's what Leo told me. I'm not really sure if he was kidding."

Percy jumped off the railing. "I'd go talk to Jason, but he and Piper are talking, and I'm pretty sure they don't need any help in making things more awkward."

Frank laughed nervously. "You know, I, uh, have a—question for you."

Percy glanced at him with a small smile playing on his lips, like he knew exactly what Frank was about to ask. That didn't help. Frank was already nervous enough about asking anyone.

"So, uh, promise you won't, like, laugh, okay?" Frank said.

"Promise."

"So, do you think that, you know…" Frank trailed off.

Keeping a straight face, Percy said, "No, Frank, I'm sorry. I don't know."

Frank rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Well, not really. Anyway, do you think that Hazel, you know, likes Leo—because he looks like Sammy?"

Percy sighed and looked over to where Hazel was, fingering her spatha. "Honestly, Frank, I'm not entirely sure. I don't really think so, because she's always so nervous around him, but you should talk—"

Leo came bounding up the stairs to the main deck, panting slightly. "Rachel—prophecy. Octavian—prophecy. Both camps. Iris Messaging… and just… engine room."

Annabeth was first to react. She quickly made a note of her page in the book (of course), put it down, and walked swiftly down the stairs, pushing past Leo. He turned around and followed her, and the rest followed suit.

Frank was the last down, being the farthest from the stairs. When he got down, he had to stand in the doorway because the engine room was already crammed full with demigods and various pieces of machinery.

On the left side of the room, shimmering above a small wooden table, was a misty image of Camp Jupiter. They'd obviously gotten the hang of Iris-Messaging. He didn't know that it worked with Romans. An angry-looking Octavian was standing in it, fists-balled and arms crossed, with a slightly pissed looking Reyna standing off to the side, currently rolling her eyes at the scrawny teenager in front of her.

On the right side, hovering over one of those cool recliner chairs with wheels (which probably was where Leo had been sitting), was a hazy Camp-Half Blood. A redheaded girl was smirking triumphantly at the front (Rachel? Frank's not good with names), and several campers her recognized from the counselors' meeting were standing in the background, chatting quietly.

Right after Frank entered, Octavian spoke loudly. "I have a prophecy."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Not a prophecy, idiot."

In the background, Reyna almost cracked a smile.

Octavian cleared his throat impatiently. "Anyways, I have an augury. It says that the seven shall perish."

"What?" Piper asked.

He glared at the daughter of Aphrodite. "I am not finished yet. They will perish, after trying their best, because, in the end, the Greeks will betray the Romans. It has not escaped my notice that there are, in fact, more Greeks than Romans on that little ship."

Leo spluttered. "Little ship. Who are you calling little, you little—"

"Leo!" Piper interrupted.

Frank rolled his eyes. Of course, out of the whole speech, that would be the thing that Leo focused on.

"Unlike this idiot," Rachel started. "I've received the real prophecy. It came about ten minutes ago."

"Well?" Annabeth asked impatiently.

Rachel sighed, holding her hands up. "Relax, Annabeth. Just don't take it too seriously, right? Prophecies could mean anything, right, and you know that, so please just don't—"

"Rachel," Annabeth warned.

"Okay, Okay," she said. "Here it is:

_A child of the three_

_A son of the sea_

_Bears the worst of the curse_

_Tested by the first of the first_

_Hapless encounters and secrets untold_

_Leave the dreary fate of the crew to unfold_

_Wisdom's daughter walks alone_

_The Mark of Athena burns through Rome"_

An incredibly awkward and tension filled silence ripped through the air.

"Like I said," Rachel continued. "It could mean anything."

"Yeah," Percy said. "That doesn't sound too bad. It doesn't say anything about deaths, so everything could turn out fine."  
Could. Might. Not necessarily.

Reyna shoved Octavian out of the Iris Message a little harder than was necessary. She rolled her eyes again.

"So you have your prophecy. As you are probably thinking, Octavian's augury was probably inaccurate, seeing as your Oracle gave an entirely different view on things. He sent this Iris Message to you without my permission. It will most likely not happen again, seeing as the Message does not work very well and takes extra effort, we being Romans," she said, fixing her gaze on each demigod in turn, her cold stare boring into the humid engine room.

"Reyna—" Jason started.

"All is well here. Communication between the Argo and Camp Jupiter is no longer needed right now. I refuse to put my camp into any more unnecessary danger. Contact us only if important or when assistance is required, if you'd please." She turned around quickly, waving her hand once through the mist, leaving a fading image of Reyna walking away in the room.

"Good luck you guys," Rachel said. "Call us whenever." She, too, waved her hand through Iris Message. The room showed no sign of the Messages ever being there, except for the nervous-looking demigods pondering over the prophecy, some stumbling to remember the lines.

"Bears the worst of the curse, Tested by the first of the first," Annabeth muttered. Apparently she didn't think she'd said it that loudly, because she looked a little surprised when everyone stared at her curiously.

"Ah, never mind," she said, heading back up the top deck. She turned around before leaving. "There's no point thinking about it. When you think about it too much, you'll start predicting what'll happen, and that'll just screw everything up."

She sounded like she was speaking from personal experience.

Everyone except Leo trickled out to go back to their various activities. Percy caught up with Frank on his way back to the boys' room.

"Hey," Percy said.

"Worried?"

Percy shrugged. "Not particularly. Anyways, when you asked me before, you know, about Hazel, I didn't really answer. I honestly don't know if she likes him. It doesn't seem like it, because she's always edgy and a little nervous around him, like she's seeing a ghost. I think she's just curious to know if he's a reincarnation of Sammy or something like that. Talk to her. Just ask."

"You give deep advice," Frank commented. "But thanks."

"Anytime," Percy said, clapping him on the back. "We'll, I'd appreciate if you kept the problems of your love life to yourself during battles, and I'm asleep, but yeah, anytime."

"Thanks," Frank said, and Percy rolled his eyes and walked away, smiling, at Frank's subtle use of sarcasm.

"GO TALK TO HER!" Percy yelled, walking up to deck. Frank's face flushed bright red, hoping that no one else had heard that, though they probably had. It'd been pretty loud.

* * *

PIPER

* * *

_'Your Aphrodite is showing'_ was all Piper was thinking ever since the Iris Message. She couldn't help it. She had noticed that Reyna's icy glare had melted, if only a fraction, when Jason had called her name. And though the others probably had, Piper hadn't missed that Reyna's eyes looked sad, so sad, when he cut off the connection.

Piper had a crush on Jason, okay? Happy now? But there was no way she'd tell anyone that (though her meddling goddess of a mother probably would), because she was pretty sure now that Jason like Reyna and she liked him back, even if she was incredibly rude to him and did her best to hide it. Piper just knew. She also knew that her mother would try to meddle in the whole thing, switching and changing feelings, manipulating it. Piper didn't want that. She was just confused. Very, very confused. About the whole thing.

Her mind wandered from that to the prophecy. She knew Annabeth was right, and they shouldn't be over-thinking the prophecy, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to know what it was about.

Piper didn't like prophecies. Not at all. They really didn't help, but instead, just made it worse. They were sort of like instruction manuals that were written in a code that couldn't really be cracked, until you did whatever the manual was supposed to help with.

The first two lines were slightly obvious, and when coupled with the third and fourth, slightly ominous, too. Not that she'd go around telling that to Percy. He was the only demigods son of Poseidon known to them, and she doubted it'd be about Poseidon's monster or immortal children. She wasn't sure about the next lines, but it obviously meant something bad was going to happen, though. Annabeth had probably figured it out. She'd looked a little shocked after hearing those lines and had kept on muttering them afterwards, like maybe that would change them into something like, _"Gets a free pass, only tested by math class."_

The last two lines were probably talking about Annabeth, though she didn't know what exactly it was talking about. The fifth and sixth lines were what intrigued Piper the most. She knew there were secrets, and keeping secrets from each other wouldn't help at all. _'Hapless encounters'_ couldn't turn out very well, and Piper really didn't want a _'dreary fate'_. She didn't think that anyone really wanted a dreary fate.

Her mind travelled back to the less ominous, but just as confusing conversation she and Jason had before. She'd been so nervous the whole time, and it didn't really help that her mom had been talking in her head the whole time, giving advice.

* * *

FLASHBACK

"_Uh, hey Piper," Jason said awkwardly, sitting down next to her. Piper barely nodded. She'd been staring at Katoptris for what seemed like minutes, but could have been hours, hoping to see something, yet also dreading seeing anything at the same time._

_She looked up. "So, did you, uh, need to tell me something?" _

"_Well—uh, just, you know," Jason stammered, and then blushed at his nervousness, "saying hi."_

_Piper stared at the wooden floor, taking in each scratch and dent, all the imperfections that hadn't been there when they'd originally taken off from Camp Half-Blood._

_Jason looked around them, at the crew and the rest of the ship, squinting because of the brightness of the beautiful summer day. _

"_Hi," Piper said._

_He whipped his head back around to look at her. "What?"_

_Piper shrugged, directing her gaze back to her unsheathed dagger. "You said you came here just to say hi, so I said hi."_

_Jason laughed. "Hi to you too, Piper."_

'Hey Pipes,' _said a voice._

_ "What?" Piper asked. The voice definitely did not sound like Jason's, or anyone else's who was aboard the Agro._

_ "Huh?" Jason scrunched his eyebrows together. "I didn't say anything."_

_ "Sorry," Piper said, confused, "I just thought that I heard something."_

'You did, hon. It's me, mom.' _The voice was now recognizable. It was so smooth and beautiful, familiar, perfect and Aphrodite-sounding that Piper was surprised that she hadn't known who it was before._

_ "Aphrodite," Piper wished she could take it back as soon as it left her mouth. Jason would definitely think she was crazy._

_ "Piper? Aphrodite isn't here," he said, sounding genuinely concerned._

_ "Sorry, I'm just a little tired and stressed," Piper blushed._

_ "Yeah. Me too. I think everyone is," Jason said, looking away from Piper. Piper nodded._

'Come on, hon. Just tell him what you feel. I even gave you new clothes.'

_Piper looked down immediately. Her clothes were the same as they'd been before: a regular pair of jeans, a purple t-shirt (to help make friends with the Romans), and a jacket, similar to her snowboarding one, but this one was a recent gift from Aphrodite. _

'No, Pipes. They're in your bag in your room. Hazel and Annabeth should also have some new outfits on their beds.'

_Piper restrained herself from rolling her eyes. _

_ "So…" Jason trailed off, looking down awkwardly at his hands._

'Just be yourself, Pipes. Love you.' _Aphrodite left Piper's head, leaving only the faint smell of roses in the air._

_ "Uh, Piper?" Jason asked, still avoiding eye contact._

_ "Yeah?" she asked, a little nervously._

_ "I just wanted to tell you something. It's about Reyna. Well, earlier, you know, before I lost my memory and came to Camp Half-Blood and went on the quest with you and Leo to save Hera, back at Camp Jupiter, well—"_

_ Right at that moment, Leo came sprinting up the steps. "Rachel—prophecy. Octavian—prophecy. Both camps. Iris Messaging… and just… engine room."_

* * *

Piper stared back at the ceiling. Annabeth and Hazel were probably still on deck. She flipped onto her stomach. Piper hadn't even looked into her bag to see what clothes Aphrodite had given. Hopefully not dresses. Her mother just didn't understand that it wasn't the best idea to save the world in a dress, no matter how nice it was.

Leo burst into the room, and Piper leaped out of bed. She rubbed her eyes. "What?"

He took a deep breath in. "Another Iris Message. Deck, this time." He promptly sprinted back out of the room.

Piper smiled and shook her head. Leo acted in a rush, always. Apparently, he didn't understand the concept of walking.

Piper yawned and stretched, jogging out of the girls' room and onto deck. It must be somewhat important, if Leo had run to get her, and it probably had something to do with her. Or maybe, Leo was just being Leo. That was also very likely.

All of the demigods were crowded on one side of the ship, next to the railing. She couldn't quite make out who was in the picture. Piper came closer, and her jaw dropped open as she recognized the misty figure outlined in the Iris Message.

* * *

**There. You've got some sort-of Frazel and Jasper/Jeyna (those are the correct names, right?), as well as a prophecy. I tried my best with that! :)**

**Thanks for reading! :) Please review and take part in the poll that's on my profile! :)**

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	19. Leo XIX

**Author's Note: Hey there! :) We have a Leo chapter! ****So, for the next two weeks, updates will either be short, late, or nonexistent. I'm going to be very busy and I'll try to get chapters up, but I might not be able to, so I apologize if you don't get updates. Updating will be back to normal after the next two updating days. Sorry if this chapter sounds a little forced at the end, but I didn't want to give you an update that is under 2,000 words.**

**A special thanks to all who have reviewed, favorited, followed, or put this on alert. Could we try for 50 reviews (total)? :) Thanks. ****Please take part in the poll on my profile about the sequel. Otherwise, I'll just do whatever I think, and that not be the type of sequel you want... so let me know your opinion.**

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**Guest: Here's a chapter! :) Hope you like it, and thanks for reviewing! It means a lot to me! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. I don't own HOO. I don't own the Mark of Athena. I don't own any of the characters. Rick Riordan owns that. I don't own iPod, either.**

* * *

Chapter 19

LEO

* * *

He was a bit suspicious. Really, three important Iris Messages appearing in one day? It had to be some sort of trick…right?

All the thoughts of the Iris Messages being part of some sort of conspiracy completely cleared from his mind when he actually saw what-or rather, who- appeared in the Iris Message.

In the front was Reyna, not calm and confident as she had appeared previously, but her clothes were messed up, like she'd just been in a fight, and the long cut going up her arm confirmed it. She looked worried, but was obviously trying to hide it, and she kept on glancing to the side, as if she was afraid someone could attack her at any point. She was alone, and in the background, which showed a cohort marching, nothing seemed wrong. The look on her face told an entirely different story, though.

She took a deep breath and collected herself, ready to speak now that the whole crew was on deck and in view. "Octavian has…disappeared. We have reason to believe that he has left Camp—alone—and is travelling to New York in an attempt to find your camp and the harpy, Ella, wherever she may be. I tried contacting your camp, but, ah, the connection doesn't seem to be working. I thought you would like to warn him, as he is aware of the general location of the Greek camp, and is armed, with close friends here who may join him. That is all."

Before anyone could say another word, she cut off the connection, but Leo didn't miss the look in her eye. She looked alarmingly helpless and confused, as if the thought of her soldiers deserting to go across the country hurt her in so many different ways.

Leo shrugged. It might. It seemed like that Camp was her whole life, and could actually mean that much to her.

"I'll go and contact camp," Percy said, a little too cheerfully for the current mood.

Annabeth followed him, without saying anything to the rest. Hazel, Jason, and Frank looked agitated, probably because they knew the Octavian guy and all his craziness pretty well. Piper descended back into the ship, going to her room, but not before casting a sad glance at the part of the deck where the Iris Message been.

Leo rolled his eyes, ever so slightly, at all of the drama. Why did humans have to be so complicated? Why couldn't they be nice and simple, like the Argo II? Or like any other machine, really. Humans were way too…complicated for Leo's liking, and he tended to handle delicate situations with them pretty badly.

He retreated back to the engine room, muttering about how he had the worst luck. Sure, he knew he was the only one who could manage the ship (besides possibly Annabeth and Percy, due to her being a daughter of Athena, and him being son of the sea god and having ship-related powers—or so he's heard) and definitely the only one onboard who would be able to fix any problems, but he still wanted a beak.

While the others were chilling on deck, or in the kitchen, meeting room, or the sleeping quarters, he was stuck down at the engine room at all times except for meals. He was even there for nights, though others would always come down, yell at him to go sleep, and take over the night shift.

They really couldn't just leave the engine room empty, because they would be completely blind to any attack. That's why he insisted on having his food delivered to the engine room and eating there, until Piper told him that he'd 'better get his butt upstairs and start eating with the rest or she was going to lock him out of the engine room forever.'

He'd just gone along with it and started eating with the others, leaving the ship completely vulnerable for about fifteen minutes. He didn't even try to argue with her and say if they locked him out, they'd probably get attacked by monsters or some part of the engine would need fixing and then they'd sink, but he couldn't really fight the her charmspeak very well.

Sometimes Leo really hated the fact that the daughter of Aphrodite could charmspeak him into doing or saying anything. That was so unfair. Then again, most people probably thought that being able to light yourself on fire was pretty unfair, also.

Leo called Buford over and pulled his iPod out of the top drawer. Usually, demigods weren't allowed any electronics (but everyone knew Annabeth had a cell phone), but in the months when he had been working on the Argo II, he had 'bought' an iPod and messed with it so it wouldn't send out a signal to the monsters, saying "EAT ME NOW, PLEASE!"

As he was scrolling down his list of songs, Leo groaned mentally. He didn't want to listen to any of them; though they were new, they seemed older.

Finally picking one, he leaned back in the swivel chair and kicked his feet up. No one else except for him was allowed to do it, mainly because he was the one spending all his time in the engine room, and because he was the only one who could fix it if he accidentally hit the wrong buttons with his feet.

He started humming softly to the song and felt himself start to drift off to sleep.

"Leo," a voice said, sounding like the person waking him up was trying not to laugh. "Uh, Leo!"

"What?" He spun his chair around, looking at the intruder.

"Uh, dinner," she said, looking curiously at his blue iPod, with her head tilted slightly to the side.

"Oh, just, uh—never mind," Leo rushed, yanking the headphones off and shoving them in one of Buford's drawers. Luckily, Buford had been nearby.

"Uh, huh," Piper said, still staring curiously, now at the half-open drawer. "You know that we're not allowed—"

"Dinner!" he yelled, racing past. As he turned the corner he saw Piper smiling and shaking her head, but still glancing over at the iPod's new hiding place.

He ran to the kitchen, seeing as there was no one in the meeting/dining/pretty much everything room. No one was there either and no food was out, so Leo guessed that he'd have to make his own food. Not that they actually made their food. They usually just cooked frozen food or ate sandwiches.

Five minutes later, he had two pizzas, one cheese and one pepperoni, and headed over to the 'dining' room.

All six of them were chatting and sitting down.

"Hey!" Leo said. "Why weren't you all here like ten minutes ago?"

Percy and Frank smiled sheepishly, while the rest looked away awkwardly, with Annabeth and Piper trying not to smile.

Leo looked at them incredulously. "You got Piper to tell me it was dinner ten minutes early, so I would have to cook? Well, I thought I was on engine room duty for the rest of ever, not cooking! What kind of conspiracy is this?"

Percy laughed. "Chill, it was just heating up some pizza, and speaking of pizza…" he trailed off, grabbing a paper plate and heading over to Leo. He took two slices of pepperoni and grinned. "Thanks!"

After that, it was chaos. Jason and Hazel took pepperoni, and Piper, Frank, and Annabeth got cheese, leaving Leo with one slice of cheese pizza, and a rather deformed, sad, small pepperoni slice.

"What if I don't like cheese pizza?" Leo whined.

"Uh, Leo, you know that pepperoni pizza is really just cheese pizza with pepperoni pieces on top, right?" Annabeth said. "You can just take a couple of pepperoni pieces and put them on the other slice. It's really not that hard."

Leo sighed melodramatically before taking an empty seat between Annabeth and Frank.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Really, Leo?"

"Anyways," Annabeth said, sensing an impending argument between the daughter of Aphrodite and the son of Hephaestus, "We're actually going to be at Rome soon, right Leo?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Leo agreed, "Tomorrow night, I think."

Annabeth nodded. "So, the prophecy doesn't really tell us where we're supposed to go, other than the fact that it's in Rome. That means we're probably going to have to explore a little bit… because, honestly, I have no clue where we're heading, and unless a god pops up sometime soon and tells us what on earth we're doing, then… well, I hope Nico's not in imminent danger."

Hazel looked a little sadder at the mention of her sort-of half-brother.

They had the same dad, but different dads at the same time… Leo was starting to get a headache, so he decided to just leave it at them being sort-of half-siblings, who were actually like complete opposites.

"But," Annabeth said, also noticing the sad look that Hazel said, "I'm sure that he's fine, right? Hades wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. And, if they capture him, then they probably want him to tell them something, right? And he wouldn't tell them immediately, so they wouldn't hurt him…"

Hazel sighed. "It's okay, Annabeth… I know that he—he might get hurt—or worse, it's okay. There no need to coat it in sugar."

"'Coat it in sugar?' What's that?" Leo asked.

"I think she means 'sugar-coat' like, making something sound better than it might actually be," Annabeth explained, but now she was giving Hazel a weird look, like she was curious about something.

Hazel seemed to notice this. "It's just—I know I'm only thirteen, but I've still been through… quite a bit, and I know the consequences of being a demigod."

Leo sighed. He hated the way she said it. 'The consequences of being a demigod' just sounded so horrible, like being a demigod was something to be punished for. After all, here they were, just a bunch of teenagers on a life-threatening quest, and they didn't do anything to deserve it. It wasn't their fault that they were children of Greek of Roman gods. None of them chose to be thrown into all of these quests and fights and monsters. And Hazel… she was the youngest one of them all, only around thirteen, and already probably knew about death and war.

Even the rest of them… like how Hera/Juno/whatever her name was (cue thunder roll from the sky—could they really hear his thoughts? That was scary) had just switched Jason and Percy around.

For Jason it wasn't that bad…at least he wasn't wiped off of the face of the planet for seven months. Percy had been plucked out of his life one night and put to sleep for five or six months. When he'd met Sally Jackson, she seemed really nice and motherly, but also seemed a little sad and nervous about her son's disappearance. He'd just missed about half of his sophomore year.

"Leo? Leo! LEO! _LEO! Earth to Leo!_" Piper said, talking calmly at first, but her voice steadily growing into a yell.

"Sorry! Sorry! Don't yell, please, I'm right here," he said, her voice, laced with charmspeak jarring him out of his thoughts.

Piper rolled her eyes at him. "Stop daydreaming and sleeping when we're trying to have some quality crew-time."

Frank snorted. "Quality crew-time?"

Percy laughed in agreement. "That cannot be an actual thing."

"And why ever not?" Piper argued.

"Who says 'why ever not'? What's wrong with 'why not'?" Leo complained.

Annabeth groaned. "Does that really matter, Leo?"

"Yeah, Repair boy," Piper agreed.

"Hey, don't gang up on me," Leo said.

"Yeah, that's not fair," Frank, "What did he do?"

"He's annoying," was Piper's simple reply.

"I agree!"

"Hazel!"

"Sorry, Leo, Frank, but Piper's right. Leo is annoying," Hazel said.

"I take offense in that," Leo said, leaning back in his chair. He smiled to himself and enjoy the break as his crewmates—no, they were friends, now—continued to argue with each other about anything and everything.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! :) Please review! :) I appreciate it a lot. The story has 43 reviews right now, so could we try for 50? That'll probably help me update faster... so, yeah. Thanks once again for reading. I hope you liked it. **

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	20. Jason XX

**Author's Note: Hey! Sorry this took so long. I've been busy. Please take part in the poll on my profile and review! :) It means a lot! Thanks for reading and thanks a bunch to all who've reviewed or favorited, followed, or put this story on alert! :)**

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**Guest: Okay, thanks! :) I'm not entirely sure about what you said, so if you'd like to PM me or tell me in a review what you meant, that'd be nice. Thanks again for reading and reviewing! It means a lot! :) Hope you like the chapter.**

**Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO and the PJO characters. I don't own HOO and the HOO characters. I don't own the Mark of Athena, either. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 20

JASON

* * *

Jason was on watch duty. It was usually either him or Percy, given that the rest had stations throughout the rest of the ship. Hazel was in charge of weapons, due to her gift with precious metals, Piper cooked most of the time (which she constantly grumbled about), Annabeth helped with that or helped Leo, who also sometimes cooked, because the rest couldn't really make a decent meal to save their lives. Especially Percy—once he had made lunch, and Annabeth had mysteriously disappeared, probably because she'd tasted his cooking before.

Frank just dabbled in a little bit of everything—he tended to hang out in the armory more than anything else, though. He claimed that it was because he was good with weapons—being a son of Mars and all, but everyone knew it was just because he liked spending time with Hazel.

Jason groaned and shifted positions on the deck floor. They were an hour or so away from Italy, the beautiful coastline already visible above the horizon.

The trip recently had been peaceful, with absolutely no attacks from monsters or hostile gods, leading all the demigods on board to believe something big was about to happen—like, really big, in Rome.

That wasn't exactly reassuring. At all.

The impending fight (or whatever that was going to happen) in Rome had been getting on everyone's nerves—Annabeth had had to break up a "friendly" sparring match between Percy and Jason that had been going on and on.

Leo had been blazing (literally) in the deck earlier, so Frank had started shouting at the son of Hephaestus, who, in turn, had yelled back, causing the usually mild-tempered Hazel to scream at both of them to grow up.

After that, Hazel had been uncharacteristically bad-tempered, and Piper and Annabeth, who hadn't been fighting yet, thank the gods, were both a bit more snappy, grouchy, and moodier than usual, particularly when the others started bickering.

They all knew it was just nerves, but fighting and squabbling wasn't really going to help their chances in Rome, which were already slim.

Suddenly, the air was filled with a sickening smell—like those pink perfume stores in malls that make people (or some, at least) want to gag. Jason_ did_ want to gag.

A high-pitched giggle echoed somewhere on the deck, but Jason was reluctant to leave his spot on the edge of the hard wooden floor. The perfume and giggle had Venus—or Aphrodite—written all over it.

The horrible scent intensified, like whoever was there was demanding that someone come out to meet her—or him.

Jason rolled his eyes (mentally, of course—gods (if that was a god) could see all—which was very creepy), and got up, heading to the source of the smell and the giggle.

Sure enough, a beautiful dark-brown-haired woman was standing on the main deck, dabbing at her makeup in a small silver mirror, occasionally scrunching up her nose at the smell of the sea that lingered throughout the ship.

Jason couldn't quite put his finger on who she looked like, in fact, she seemed to resemble Piper, which made sense, Aphrodite being her mother and all, but she also looked a little like Reyna, with the determined chin and small nose, and that determined, no-nonsense glint in her eyes.

Jason stumbled a little, causing Aphrodite to look at him and giggle again.

"Uh, well—er, um," he blabbered.

The goddess sniffed and returned to her makeup.

"L-lady Aphrodite," he stammered,

"About time," she rolled her eyes. "I was beginning to think that you had all been killed already. What a shame that would be, especially since my daughter is on board."

"What—um, what—" he tried to say.

Aphrodite smiled impatiently, before rolling her eyes slightly again. "Oh, stop stammering. All you males start blabbering and blathering whenever I'm around. Speak properly," she snapped, to emphasize her point, or maybe for some magical influence.

Jason nodded numbly, detecting the godly charmspeak in her words. "Lady Venus—"

"I'm Aphrodite, dear, do I look very Roman?"

"Well…" the blond demigod trailed off.

"Don't answer that," she suggested. "It was rhetorical. Oh, don't give me that look. Despite what some think, yes, I do have a brain," she said, referring to the astonished look Jason gave her after she said 'rhetorical'.

Jason raised an eyebrow, but still continued. "What exactly are you doing here, Lady Aphrodite? Aren't gods not supposed to interfere, especially recently, with Jupiter's—or Zeus's—new rules."

"Well," the goddess of love said impatiently, "you're right." Seeing his confused look. "I'm not supposed to be here, but when have little rules every stopped the gods. Thalia and Percy's births are the product of a broken promise—a very important one, may I add."

"So…uh, why are you here?" Jason repeated.

"Oh, yes, that, of course. I'm not here to help with the quest, you'll more that enough help with that, despite Zeus's rule."

"Lady Aphrodite?" Jason prompted again, seeing as she was deliberately avoiding the question, over and over again.

"Sorry, dear, I've a lot on my mind. Being the goddess of love isn't as easy as you might think. I've actually come to talk to you, Jason," she smiled brightly, and her makeup and mirror disappeared in a small flash.

Jason was sure that he was sweating by now, and probably looked pretty nervous. Some might think that an encounter with the Goddess of Love might be better than meeting, say, Ares or Pluto, but Aphrodite, as nice as she may seem, could be more dangerous than either.

"Me?" he laughed. "Why would you want to see...? Piper's probably in her room, I think Hazel's in the armory, Annabeth's helping Leo, who's also in the engine room. Frank's probably with Hazel, and I don't know where Percy is, but—"

Aphrodite sighed impatiently. "Oh, stop denying things. You young demigods, especially recently, are so stubborn. You're always in denial. I remember when I met young Percy, a few years back, yes, he was in denial, too…" she trailed off, looking thoughtful.

He sighed. "Aphrodite?"

"Ah, yes," she said, coming back into reality. "Sorry that I'm a little off, today, dear, but I have to make sure that Zeus doesn't know I'm here, especially if he knew why I wanted to talk to you.""

"I should really be getting back, I'm on watch right now, so if you'll excuse me—" Jason started.

"No, no," Aphrodite waved her hand airily, and a table and two chairs set themselves up, complete with utensils, plates, and food.

"Sit, sit, darling. I won't keep you for long, promise."

Jason sat down at the offered chair, still very nervous.

The goddess sat down opposite him carefully. "So," she said. "I'll just get to the point."

Jason nodded stiffly.

"Who do you like more? It's not nice, what you're doing, you know," Aphrodite commented.

Jason, who had taken a sip from the water in front of him, had to control himself, so as to not spit it out all over the goddess in front of him.

"What?" he tried not to yell, but it was still pretty loud.

"Oh, calm down, calm down," Aphrodite said, a note of exasperation entering her voice. "You know what I'm talking about. You need to decide who you like, mister."

"What—no! Now's not the time to talk about this! We're on a quest for Jupiter's sake!" Jason protested.

Aphrodite either didn't notice the rumble of thunder, because she was so used to it, or she heard it and just didn't care. She shrugged. "You're not doing anything now. No monsters. You won't have much free time from now on, I can tell you that."

"But—" Jason protested. "Just… I don't know."

Aphrodite was clearly losing her patience, but she didn't let it show in her voice. "I'm the goddess of _love_, Jason. You can't lie to me about this. You like Piper, but you like Reyna. Piper doesn't know what to think, and Reyna believes you like Piper, and she doesn't want to even think about it, let alone think about you. Both girls are confused, and even though you may not know it, you're hurting both of them, _so,_ you, mister, have to decide who you like!"

"But, I don't know!" Jason was losing his patience fast, but unlike Aphrodite, he couldn't keep it out of his voice.

Aphrodite took a deep breath. "I'll be nice about this. I can't—I can, but I won't meddle in this, only because you are important to the quest, and a Roman is involved, as well as my daughter. Both of them are nice girls, Jason. You should tell them something—anything, before they start hating you. I don't know about Reyna, but Piper may just lose patience with you."

"Hating me? What? Why?" he asked incredulously.

She shrugged. "They probably won't. They aren't like that, but… you never know."

"I'm still so confused. I didn't _d0_ anything!" he protested.

Aphrodite smiled. "Exactly. Bye! And… good luck with this quest of yours. I'm sure you all will need it." She smiled one last time, confusing the demigod even more than he already was, and flashed out taking the table with her.

Jason, who had been sitting in one of the chairs, now sat on the floor, temporarily stunned, still staring at the spot where the Goddess of love had been, just seconds ago.

He didn't know how long he had sat there, but it really didn't matter. He was just really confused. About… a lot.

Jason groaned and covered his head with his hands. The goddess had given him quite a lot to think about, and it wasn't the best time, given the quest and them approaching Rome.

He wasn't sure if he liked Reyna and Piper, let alone who he liked better, and he definitely didn't know that he'd been hurting them in the process.

He sighed. He'd just tell Piper—and Reyna, when the had the chance—that he wanted to stay friends, at least until after they were done with the quest, and he had time to think, without impending doom interrupting most of his thoughts.

"Um, hey. Are—are you okay? You look sick," a voice commented.

"What?" Jason groaned and turned around. He blushed as he realized he was still sitting on the floor, cradling his head in his hands.

"Just, uh, you've been sitting there since I came on deck, doing—nothing," Percy noted.

"I'm uh—fine," Jason said, still looking as confused as he did right after Aphrodite left.

"Aphrodite came—or was it Venus?" Percy asked, sitting down next to the blond son of Jupiter.

"What, no—how did you know? And it was Aphrodite," he admitted, not even trying to protest.

Percy shrugged. "She visited me once—Aphrodite, not Venus. This was before the whole Roman/Greek thing. Now, I wonder if she's more dangerous than the other gods, more dangerous than people give her credit for."

"It feels like that, doesn't it? But, still, why? I don't get why she seems so powerful." Jason scratched his head, just like a character from a movie or book would do.

Percy laughed. "I don't really know. I'm not exactly the smartest person on this ship. But, what I've guessed, anyways, is she messes with her mind. You don't know what you're saying, and it's like that, I guess, in love, right? You get all confused, and it's so… confusing, I guess."

Jason snorted. "Nice way of explaining it. But I guess you're right, sort of. She does mess with your mind a little bit, leave you confused."

Percy nodded and grinned. "Well, whatever she came to talk to you about, you should think about it. Now, may not be the best time to really do anything much about it, but… think about it like, after the quest is over. You don't have to choose anything now."

Jason glared. "Were you eavesdropping? How did you know what she was talking to me about?"

Percy grinned again. "I didn't. I guess I know now, don't I?"

Jason laughed. "You know, you can actually be pretty smart when you're not doing something completely and utterly stupid."

Percy scrunched his eyebrows together. "Well, thanks, I guess. Hey, at least we got through a conversation without killing each other. Even though it had nothing to do with the quest, well not directly, at least, that's still something, right?"

Jason laughed, and his jealousy toward Percy lessened more and more by the second. Percy was actually a pretty nice guy and gave somewhat-good advice, even if he didn't know what he was talking about half of the time.

The coastline of Italy (the coast closest to Rome) was approaching quickly, and Percy sighed. "We're going to be there soon. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, because I'm not."

Jason smiled. "Who is?"

"No one," Percy admitted. "At least, no one on this boat, I would hope. Others… well, I'd still hope not, but… I really don't know."

Jason nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

Percy laughed again. "Yeah, there are some pretty weird people in this world, and some pretty crazy immortals." The sound of thunder didn't faze him, so he continued. "All we can do, right now, really, is hope and pray that there are no Egyptian gods and demigods or whatever. It seems like just getting the Greeks and Romans to behave nicely with each other is pretty hard."

Jason nodded again, and Percy shoved him lightly.

"Come on, talk," he urged, "I feel like I'm going all philosophical and blabbering on and on, while you sit there quietly, half-paying attention, and half thinking about your conversation with a certain Goddess of love."

"Hey!" Jason cried. "I wasn't!"

Percy smiled. "Sure."

"Oh, and big words, Percy. I mean, really, 'philosophical'? Did Annabeth teach you what that means?"

Percy huffed. "I've said big words before, and I know what they mean. And Annabeth did _not_ teach me what 'philosophical' means. I already knew."

Jason rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you did, Percy."

"Yeah, I did," Percy argued, getting up and stretching. "I was scouting up ahead in the water before, so I think I'm going to sleep now. Wake me when we get there? Or when there's dinner, whichever comes first."

Jason laughed. "Okay."

As Percy left and the Italian coastline came closer, Jason leaned back on his elbows and closed his eyes. They were almost at Rome. They would be fine, right? How bad could it get, really...


	21. Percy XXI

**Author's Note: Hey! I updated again so soon to make up for the break I took recently. A lot happens, because I'm trying to speed it up. To me, at least, it seems like some chapters are forced or are fillers. I think the story will have about 35-40 chapters, and now, I'm not sure if or when I'll do the sequel. Thanks for reading! :) Please review and take part in the poll on my profile.**

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**Guest: Thanks! :) Yeah, I didn't want to stop the story in the beginning right after the real book came out! :) Thanks again for reading and reviewing. It means a lot to me. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, HOO, the PJO characters, and the HOO characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter 21

PERCY

* * *

"Almost there, maybe an hour or so, but it looks like there's a storm coming," he reported.

"Storm?" Leo groaned, "Why?"

"Why?" Percy asked, "How am I supposed to know? Did you expect the weather to be nice and sunny for us? This is probably someone messing with us."

"Still, I don't want to get wet," Leo grumbled.

Percy laughed and sat back down. "Bring an umbrella. I'm sure it won't be too hard, right? Just fighting some giants and monsters with one hand. Hold the umbrella in the other," he suggested.

"Sure, Percy," Leo rolled his eyes. "But, Jason, can't you stop it?" he whined.

"Leo, even if I could, I wouldn't. Suck it up, it's just the _rain_!" Jason said.

"Are we there yet?" Leo complained.

"Leo, just shut up! You're the one running the ship, shouldn't you know?" Piper said.

"Don't charmspeak me, Beauty Queen!" Leo replied.

"Leo, every time I talk, I'm not charmspeaking you! I can talk normally, you know," Piper defended.

Leo rolled his eyes, "Sure Beauty Queen."

"Leo," Piper warned, "One more word, and I swear, you won't be able to walk out into the storm."

Percy laughed as Leo shrank back into his seat, not making eye contact with the angry daughter of Aphrodite sitting opposite him.

"So, has it started raining yet? Do you know?" Hazel asked, directing the question to no one in particular.

"I'll check," Percy offered.

"And I'll go with you," Annabeth added quietly.

The two demigods softly walked out of the meeting room where everyone else was moping until they arrived at Italy.

Percy shuffled down the hall, Annabeth right beside him. It was cold, and the storm would definitely not help on their quest. The storm would probably only become worse, and the weather would only turn colder as they got closer and closer to Rome.

"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Percy said, wondering why Annabeth had offered to come with him when they were just walking outside and back.

"Not particularly. Does there have to be something to talk about for me to walk with my boyfriend?" Annabeth asked.

Percy blushed. "No."

She nodded. "The prophecy's not too bad, right?"

"What?" Percy said, confused that she brought up the prophecy. "Um, it kind of is, Wise Girl. There's a huge chunk of it that says straight out that something bad is going to happen to a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena."

Annabeth sighed. "It could be someone else."

He rolled his eyes. "Totally," Percy said sarcastically, "Because Leo is so the son of the sea, and Hazel is the mark of Athena. Absolutely."

Annabeth elbowed him lightly. "Thanks," she said, "for at least lightening the mood."

He nodded and grinned. "What else am I supposed to do, with you all moping, and everything?"

"I am _so _not moping!" she protested.

Percy laughed. "Fine, but the others are, at least." He followed Annabeth up the stairs to the deck.

He heard Annabeth mutter something on deck and laughed. "What did you say?" he asked, as he got up on deck.

"Oh my gods," he breathed. It was pouring, like pouring really hard. They were getting drenched, and could barely see through the rain five feet in front of them.

"Let's go back inside," Annabeth suggested, pulling Percy back inside.

"You okay?" Percy asked. They were both inside and shivering.

"Can't you just—dry yourself?" Annabeth asked, teeth chattering.

Percy closed his eyes. Usually he could dry himself without even really thinking about it, but it was harder, maybe because they weren't in America.

He opened his eyes, expecting to be dry, but he wasn't—he was still completely soaked.

"Um…what?" Percy asked.

Sensing his confusion, Annabeth suggested, "Why don't you try drying me off? Maybe it'll be easier."

Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed lightly, concentrating hard. He was doing everything he'd done previously to dry someone, and more, but it just wasn't working. There was no tug in his gut, and no rush of power, small or big.

He sighed and let go of her hand. "I just can't do it. It's so annoying."

Annabeth gave him a hug. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Maybe it's not working because it's rain."

He nodded sadly. "You're probably right. We should, uh, go back now. They're probably wondering where we are."

"Yeah," she said.

They trudged back to the meeting room in silence, shivering.

"What happened to you guys?" Piper asked, standing up as they entered.

"It's pouring out there," Percy explained. "You can barely see in front of you."

"Can't you just dry yourself off?" Leo asked. "You know, with all your fancy son of Poseidon powers?"

Percy looked away uncomfortably. "Well, I'm going back to the room to get dry before we get there."

"Bye," Annabeth called. She, too, was leaving to go dry off in her room.

"Bye," he replied, walking quickly back to his room. He'd have to try the rest of his powers out, the sooner the better. It was weird. Even though he hadn't really needed to use his powers in a while, they weren't supposed to leave.

There was no tug of power in his gut, and he hadn't felt re-energized when they'd gone onto the deck in the rain.

It scared Percy that his abilities in water, or at least the ability to keep himself dry wasn't working, because that was something he'd been able to do for a while.

Hopefully, Annabeth was right, and it would only be a temporary thing, because if he went into this next war with Gaea without his powers as the son of Poseidon, well, then he might as well be a mortal with the sight who was pretty good with a sword.

Percy changed and dried himself off with a towel in the boys' room, and before he left to meet up with the others again, he noticed a strange aura of power in the air. One that he didn't really recognize.

It hummed in the air, and glowed a faint green-brown color, resembling the army camouflage colors.

He almost heard a creepy laugh, but shook his head, because there was no one in his room, so why would anyone be laughing?

Percy suddenly felt a little sleepy, like a nap would be the best thing ever right about then.

He yawned and stretched, lying down on the closest bunk. He didn't even register if it was his bunk or maybe Frank's, Leo's or Jason's, but at that point, he really didn't care.

All he wanted was to sleep.

"PERCY!" a voice screamed in his ear.

"WHAT?" he sat straight up in the bed, almost hitting the person who'd woken him up.

"Oh, hey Frank," Percy muttered sleepily. He lied back down, ready to sleep again, and literally fell asleep again before his head hit the pillow.

"Oi, wake up!" the voice said again, yanking the pillow from behind his head and throwing the covers off the bed.

"Go away, mom," Percy grumbled.

"Annabeth," the voice trying to wake him up called.

Someone else entered the room and sighed. "You go back up to deck, Frank. I'll wake him up."

Annabeth was shaking him lightly. "Percy, come on."

"No," he mumbled. "Too sleepy. Wake me up in a week."

He felt a soft pressure on his cheek. "Come on Seaweed Brain, now I'm done being nice. Get out of bed right now or I'll throw you out of the room. And you _know_ I can do that."

"Fine," he sat up and swung himself out of bed, nearly falling back down when he did so.

"Wow," Annabeth noted. "You _are_ really tired. Oh, Hades, it's starting."

"What's starting?" he mumbled sleepily shrugging on a jacket. "Are we here?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "We're here, and um, nothing. Forget I even said anything."

"Deck?" he asked, walking out of the door.

"Yeah. They're all already there."  
He nodded and walked up to deck. The rest were already there and seemed to be arguing. The Italian coastline was alarmingly close, and they'd sail over it sometime soon.

"Hey, Percy," Jason called the son of Poseidon over, probably to tell him what was going on.

"What?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes with the back it of his hands.

"First of all, you look really tired," Jason noted.

"I've been told," Percy grumbled. "Oh, and sorry Frank, I'm not the best person to try to wake up," he said, seeing Frank nearby.

Frank grinned. "It's okay. I was warned, but I tried to wake you up, anyway. You were on my bed, after all."

"Oh," Percy said. "Sorry."

Frank smiled back, but Jason interrupted by coughing.

"So," Jason said. "It stopped raining a few minutes ago, by the way, but it looks like it could start raining again any time soon. Anyways, we were just—debating—"

"Arguing," Percy added helpfully.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, we were _debating_ about where to land. We could land and dock by the coast, use the mist to hide the ship, and then walk, or get to Rome some other way. Or, we could land by Rome, but the mist might not hide it as well there, and there might not even be space for the ship there. I think we should dock here."

Percy nodded. "Okay."

Jason looked a little surprised that Percy so readily agreed with him, but Percy shrugged him off.

If Jason still believed that Percy was self-centered and wanted to play leader and whatever, then let him. Honestly, that was really the last thing on his mind. He really didn't need anything more to think about, on top of the quest and his newfound sleepiness and odd lack of powers over water.

"You sure?" Jason asked, still a little uncertain.

"Yeah, Jason, I'm sure," Percy said, almost a little amused. "It's better to be safe than sorry, right? If we don't find area to land near Rome, then we'd have to come back here to land, and that'd just waste time. Plus, if we land here, then we'll be able to scout the area, maybe meet some monsters on the way. And it'll delay whatever's going to happen at Rome, because I don't know about you guys, but I am so totally _not ready. Like, at all."_

"Wow, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said from behind him. "Was that actual _planning_? Maybe the Romans really did rub off on you. I should thank them. Oh, yeah, thanks Frank and Hazel. I'd thank you, too, Jason, but you weren't there, so…"

The three Roman demigods laughed, and the others joined in too.

"Leo?" Piper asked quietly.

"Hmm?" the son of Hephaestus looked up from whatever he was tinkering with in his hands.

"We're landing soon, right?" Piper clarified.

Leo looked over the edge of the ship, to the approaching coastline.

"Yeah, Beauty Queen, we're landing soon."

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever, Pipes."

"Don't call me that either."

"Fine."

"So, we're going to land, in like, say, five minutes?" she asked.

"Yes, _Piper_, we are. You just asked that," Leo said, now sounding a little exasperated. He looked back down to whatever he was making in his lap.

"And you're in charge of this ship, right? You're running it? You're the supreme commander of the Argo II, or whatever you call it, right?" she asked.

"Piper, what are you saying? Is it stupid question day?" Leo asked, now obviously annoyed.

"Shouldn't you be landing this ship?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said slowly, probably now understanding what she was getting at.

"Like, shouldn't you be down in the engine room, landing this ship, like _right now_? Or we're going to fly over the port," she said.

"So, what?" he asked.

"GET YOUR BUTT DOWN TO THE ENGINE ROOM AND LAND THE SHIP FOR ZEUS'S SAKE!" Piper yelled, obviously losing her patience, now that Leo still wasn't understanding what she was trying to tell him, though everyone else did.

"And, no," she said angrily, "before you ask, I did not charmspeak you. Now, GO!"

Leo scuttled off the deck and down below like a scared child who had been reprimanded by a parent for staying up late and sneaking chocolate in the middle of the night.

Everyone laughed. It started raining again, not pouring, but they all got soaked again.

Percy sighed. They were landing in Italy.

* * *

**Feel free to correct me on any mistakes or give constructive criticism! Thanks. :)**

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	22. Hazel, Annabeth XXII

**Author's Note: So, here we have a Hazel and Annabeth chapter. Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. It means a lot to me! Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO and the PJO characters. I don't own HOO and the HOO characters. I don't own the Mark of Athena. Rick Riordan owns all of that.**

* * *

Chapter 22

HAZEL

* * *

_Thud_. The ship landed. Hazel let out a sigh of relief that she didn't know she'd been holding.

Flying half the time and sailing the other half, so as to not anger Poseidon or Jupiter by taking their brother's son through their territory didn't exactly help a daughter of Pluto.

Even though there'd been groans and moans of complaint from some people (mainly Leo—something about how he hadn't wanted to leave his baby behind), saying they didn't want to walk to Rome, they'd decided to leave the boat docked at the coast.

Annabeth had money stashed away somewhere (the rest decided not to ask where she got it from) in various forms of currency: drachmas, denarii (Hazel wasn't exactly sure how she got a hold of the Roman currency), the euro, and dollars, basically enough money to get them by in several different countries.

Also, she had a magic hat that was charmed by a daughter of Hecate so it could hide the ship. Hazel wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but decided, one again, not to ask. Who knew what other tricks Annabeth had up her sleeve?

"You can get off now, guys!" a voice called from inside the ship. Leo came sprinting up to deck a few seconds after.

Hazel headed with the others down from the deck. Like the rest of the seven, she had a small bag packed, with her weapon at her side. They'd be sleeping each night on small sleeping bags strapped onto the backpacks like hiking packs. Hazel was sure she'd be able to sleep fine; it couldn't be worse than sleeping in a tiny shack with a blanket in the winter of Alaska seventy years ago.

After making sure that the ship was completely concealed, they had the problem of making sure no other ship docked there and crashed into theirs. Frank quickly turned into an elephant and knocked over a couple trees in front of the ship. Then, they laid some fat chains in front of the ship, so it looked like you weren't supposed to dock there. Lastly, and what they should have done to start, Annabeth tied a dinghy to the dock next to the Argo II.

They started hiking, Annabeth in the lead (since she probably knew what they were doing more than the rest), Piper, Leo, and Jason next, followed by Hazel and Frank, with Percy bringing up the rear.

Hazel and Frank didn't really talk much; there wasn't exactly much to talk about, but it would have been better if they did. They all needed something to get their minds off of the quest, especially after walking and just walking some more for four hours.

Leo had dropped to the back, leaving Piper to talk with Jason, and Percy had caught up with Annabeth.

"You tired?" Frank asked.

"A little," Hazel admitted. Annabeth and Percy had slowed down the pace, mainly because Leo had been sending messages up to the front for the past half an hour, complaining that they were going too fast.

"Frank, Hazel?" a bored voice came from behind them. "Can you tell Percy and Annabeth that—,"

"They need to go slower?" Frank finished.

"No. I'm hungry. Can we stop?" The two Roman demigods passed the message along to Piper and Jason in front of them, who relayed it to Annabeth and Percy.

The two in the front continued for a while, seemingly ignoring Leo's persistent and incredibly annoying complaints that his legs are sore.

Annabeth finally cracked. "Will you shut up, Leo? Are you trying to get all the monsters in the whole freaking country to try to kill us? We'll stop when I say so!"

Percy covered his mouth to cover his laughing, but Annabeth still noticed it, and shoved him roughly.

"You be quiet, too, mister. I have so much blackmail on you that it's not even funny," Annabeth warned.

Percy shut up, too, and the rest of the demigods coughed awkwardly to hide their laughter. Apparently, Leo had really gotten on Annabeth's nerves.

A few peacefully silent minutes later, Annabeth came to an abrupt halt. Jason almost bumped into her, and Hazel into him, since they weren't paying much attention.

"Happy?" Annabeth asked.

She turned around to glare at Leo, who was already lying on the ground, rolling over and over on the grass, muttering, "Legs, my poor, poor dead legs.

Annabeth cracked a smile. "If that was hard, then good luck, Leo, with the rest of the quest.

Leo groaned and rolled over once more, so he could see everyone else. "When're we eating?"

No one answered.

"What're we eating?" he asked.

Annabeth sat down. "If you're so hungry, why don't you find food?"

"No," he moaned. "Bring me my food."

"Absolutely not," the blonde daughter of Athena snapped. "If you didn't bring your own food, then you have to find it. I'm going for my food."

She rummaged through her pack for something, and Percy got up and walked out of the clearing. "I'll be back. I'm getting food," he called.

Annabeth found whatever she was looking for and shoved it in her pocket, then ran to catch up with Percy.

Hazel had packed a little food, so she wouldn't have to look for any for a couple of days, at least. Frank and Piper had done the same.

"Jason?" Leo called.

Jason looked up. "What, Leo?" he asked tiredly.

"Did you bring food?"

"No."

"Are you going to go get food now?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can you get me some?"

"No, don't you have something in that tool belt of yours?"

Leo groaned and rolled over again. "I didn't pack food."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Too bad. You should've. You can come with me, though, if you want."

Leo moaned and got up. "Fine…"

"Oh, stop complaining, or we'll duct tape you to a tree, and won't give you any food," Jason snapped.

"What kind of a threat was that?" Leo asked.

Jason rolled his eyes and stood up. "You coming or what?"

The two demigods made their way out of the clearing, on the opposite side from which Annabeth and Percy had left.

"Hey," Piper said, walking over to sit with Frank and Hazel. "What food did you guys bring?"

"Peanut butter and jelly," Frank said, showing his sandwich. "Me too," Piper grinned. "I love this stuff.

"Macaroni and cheese, Hazel replied, showing a little plastic container filled with it.

"Aren't you guys tired? I felt like falling down and sleeping about three hours in. And Annabeth didn't even look tired. If anything, she started speeding up," Piper commented.

"Yeah," Hazel agreed. "I don't know how she isn't tired yet. And then she got right back up to look for food. What are they going to do for food, though? Go fishing?"

Frank laughed. "If they're fishing, I'm sure Percy and Annabeth would be fine, but I'd pay to see how Jason and Leo are doing."

Piper and Hazel laughed in agreement.

"Actually," Frank corrected, "I wouldn't really pay. Don't have much money at the moment."

Piper rolled her eyes, but smiled, all the same. "I think it's part of being a demigod. You just always seem to be out of mortal money, or drachmas, denarii, or whatever it is that you guys use."

Hazel laughed, but was a little confused. She'd remembered Annabeth saying something about Piper's dad being rich, or something. Hazel had her own power with jewels, but there was no way she'd ever use that for money. "Yeah, it's denarii. Annabeth doesn't seem to have this lack of money problem, though. She, like, has a bag full of money in various currencies."

Piper laughed. "True, true."

Just as they started eating, Percy and Annabeth came back into the clearing, laughing and smiling, with Percy holding a medium-sized brown paper bag.

The two Greek demigods sat by Hazel, Piper, and Frank, and proceeded to open up the bag.

"That's your… food?" Frank asked curiously.

"Yeah," Percy grinned.

Frank started laughing, and in between, managed to choke out, "Jason…Leo… can't wait to see their _faces_!"

The rest couldn't help but crack some grins at that. The way Annabeth had said, "find your own food," Hazel had assumed she meant find it in the wilderness, like meat, berries, and nuts, not take-out. Given the fact that Jason and Leo had walked in the opposite direction of Percy and Annabeth, deeper into the woods, they had thought the same thing too.

Annabeth grinned, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Well, I didn't say they had to hunt for their food. And if they interpreted it that way, it's better for us, right? We get to hear Leo complain less."

Piper smiled and shook her head. "How do you manage to plan these thing out?"

Annabeth grinned, like she'd been waiting for someone to say that. "Athena—"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Athena always has a plan. We get it."

She playfully punched him on the shoulder, before pulling out two of those recyclable, natural boxes. They seemed pretty cool to Hazel. To the rest, they were probably normal. Annabeth handed one to Percy, and they both quickly attacked the Thai food.

"Hm," Percy said, after taking a few bites, "this is really good. If only it was blue, though."

"Totally," Annabeth said sarcastically. "Because blue Thai food is so normal."

Jason and Leo came jogging into their little clearing. They looked like they had just fought some horrible mythological Greek sea monster.

Both were soaking wet, and looked tired. Leo looked to be holding… a tiny baby fish.

"Got… food," Jason panted, sitting down next to Piper

"Fish," Leo choked out, plopping himself down beside Jason.

Both boys noticed what Percy and Annabeth were eating at the same time. "Take-out?" Leo asked incredulously. "But… what? That's not fair. You said we had to find our food."

Annabeth grinned. "And we did. I didn't say you couldn't buy it. I just said you had to go and get your own."

Leo pouted. "That's not fair. You don't know how hard it is to go fishing. And we only got this tiny little one."

"First of all," Percy said, "It's not hard. Like, at all. Second of all, I'm not even going to ask how you went fishing without a pole and bait, and why you're both soaking wet, because I don't think I really even want to know. And, third, we figured you'd do something stupid, so we got you some."

He pulled out two more take-out boxes and threw them at Leo and Jason.

Leo grinned as he opened it, looking at the food inside. "Thanks."

"Whatever, idiot," Annabeth replied.

Leo and Jason polished off their food. Leo had dried off, but Jason was sill wet and starting to shiver.

"Aren't you cold?" Piper asked, taking the last bite out of her sandwich.

Jason shrugged. "Little."

"Percy?" Hazel asked, turning toward the black-haired demigod, who'd finished his food and was now leaning back on his elbows. "Can't you, um, you know—dry him off, or something?"

Percy looked suddenly uncomfortable. He sat back up and looked downwards. "You, know—it's been weird. Ever since we—"

Something rustled in the trees behind the demigods.

* * *

ANNABETH

* * *

Placing a finger over her lips to quiet the others, Annabeth grabbed Percy and her take-out boxes and shoved them into her bag. She motioned for the rest of the demigods to do the same with the rest of their food.

She nimbly stood up, scanning the clearing uneasily. Nothing seemed wrong, it could be just an animal after all, but now that they were in Italy, she wanted to be as careful as possible.

_Hiss. _Annabeth tensed, her head zeroing in on the source of the sound. _Hiss. Hiss._

Annabeth's mind raced through lists of all the monsters she knew, bringing up all snakes. She was pretty sure it wasn't a normal snake, given the seven powerful demigods nearby.

The hissing continued, too many times to be just one snake. _Hiss_. Annabeth listened carefully. It didn't sound like a normal snake—that was for sure. The hissing was deeper, almost like it was mixed with a growl.

Hissing—snakes—serpent! It had to be a serpent! But, there's more than one Greek serpent monster. It couldn't be a water monster.

A head darted into Annabeth's vision—definitely the head of a monster. Her eyes trailed down the monster's body to…another head.

Annabeth muttered a curse in Ancient Greek. As quick as a flash, she whipped out her bronze knife, making sure she stood between the blade and monster, not wanting it to see the celestial bronze, just in case it still didn't know they were there.

It approached even closer.

Annabeth picked up her bag, slinging it on her back, so her hands would be free.

The glinting and noise of the swords and daggers being unsheathed caught the attention of the monster.

_Hissss._ It darted out of the trees and came into the clearing, making Annabeth's breath catch. She'd read about it from some of the Athena cabin's books, but it tended to be one of the lesser-known monsters—there weren't many pictures, and descriptions of the monster tended to vary.

It was a simple huge monster—not as big as some titans they'd fought, and definitely not as big as the giants they were bound to eat, but it was at least a foot taller than Jason, who was the tallest demigod present.

It appeared to have a normal serpent's body—or at least, was as normal as serpent monsters could be—until Annabeth caught sight of the end of its tail—or rather, the lack of it.

At the tip of the tail, there was another head, just as fierce as the other one. If this was what Annabeth was thinking of, then both heads were poisonous, making it a very, very dangerous monster.

Annabeth swore more loudly in Greek. Percy looked at her, a little fear seeping into his eyes. Annabeth rarely cursed, and when she did, others knew whatever was going on was bad.

"What is it?" he whispered, dodging the tail-end head that lunged towards them. He took a swing at it and missed.

"Amphisbaena," she muttered, "Two-headed poisonous serpent, created from the blood from Medusa's head. It should be living in the desert…"

Percy crinkled his nose at the mention of Medusa. "How do we kill it?" he asked, warily eyeing the monster, which looked as if it was deciding which demigod to kill first. It chose Jason, who dodged, trying to buy some more time to figure how much time to kill it. The blond demigod attempted to stab it but the monster gave out an angry hiss and batted him aside with its tail.

"I…I don't know really. They're not in the myths much. They usually eat off the dead. Cut off both the heads. They spit poison." Annabeth stepped a little closer, swiping in with her dagger, her eyes analyzing the monster for weaknesses. She said the last couple of sentences a little louder so the rest of the demigods in the clearing could hear her too.

It lunged toward her. Annabeth ducked under the serpent's head, and kicked off its side, planning to catapult herself to the other side of the clearing, but she'd miscalculated in her hurry, and ended up landing straight on the monster's back.

It let out some sort of a half-strangled roar (it could've passed for a mutated hiss) and turned around in the clearing at an alarming speed, attempting to throw Annabeth on.

She held on as best as she could with one hand, the other holding her dagger as she noted its weak spots.

Its heads kept on cocking to the right when the demigods came, like her brothers used to do when they didn't want to be tickled. The neck—that had to be its weak spot: the side of its neck!

"Side of the necks!" Annabeth yelled. "Your guys' left, its right."

Annabeth clambered down its tail to the head there, the one that was trying to spit poison at Hazel and Frank, who was in elephant form.

The tail lifted higher off the ground, too far for Annabeth to jump safely. She muttered a quick prayer to the gods, and swung her legs of the side of the monster. She gripped the dagger with both hands as she fell and plunged it into the side of the serpent's neck. She dragged it down as she plummeted to the ground, bracing herself for the impact.

She tucked and rolled as she fell, but there was still a sharp pain in her right arm. She muttered a curse and brushed away the pain.

Annabeth looked around and sighed in relief. The monster had disintegrated, but the demigods looked tired, even though none seemed injured.

She sat up, and her vision blurred, and for a second, Annabeth saw double.

She rubbed her eyes and stood up, surveying the area. "Come on. We should go."

Right after the words left her mouth, several loud hisses were heard to the right, the direction of the city. Several pairs of eyes glinted at Annabeth from the shadows of the forest. She looked around, slightly panicked. They could handle one, even two, but judging by the amount of hissing she could hear, there were quite a few.

That told Annabeth a couple of things: One, the enemy knew they'd landed in Italy. And, two, Gaea really wanted them gone, because amphisbaenae rarely fought the dead, and if there were half a dozen, then it must be very serious. Plus, it was bad if the two-headed serpents had joined the other side.

Her mind scrambled for a plan, her eyes taking in every rock, every tree, anything and everything that could be integrated into a plan to kill the monsters. Nothing. There were simply too many, and no matter how good they were, after already fighting one, they couldn't go one-on-one with amphisbaenae.

One idea sprinted into Annabeth's mind, but she didn't like it. She didn't like looking weak—there was always a plan, always a way to fight. But she couldn't compromise the wellbeing of the others, just for an as-of-yet nonexistent plan to do the nearly impossible.

"Run," she breathed. "RUN!" she yelled, double-checking to make sure they'd all heard, before picking up her dagger and sprinting towards the direction that Jason and Leo had headed toward earlier for food.

She didn't stop for a good few minutes, assuming that the others were following by the sound of footsteps behind her.

Hearing one of the demigods start to pant, she checked for any signs of the monsters, before slowing to a jog, and then a walk.

She turned around to see how the others were faring and had to stop herself from groaning in frustration.

As a daughter of Athena, Annabeth prided herself on knowing how to make good teams. She was able to analyze who worked well with whom, whose strengths matched up with who else, which demigods knew each other the most, and who just absolutely hated whom, and use that in order to pair up people who would be able to work together best.

She knew all of that about the seven of the prophecy, and she already knew how she'd team them if they'd ever need to split up.

So, apparently, the Fates didn't take Annabeth's well thought out plans to heart, because they had split up, and Annabeth foresaw lots of arguments in the near future.

Because, Hazel, Leo, and Frank were standing behind her, and Percy, Jason, and Piper were nowhere to be seen.

She was about to say something to the panting demigods, when pain seared through her arm like never before. Her knees wobbled as she crumpled to the ground, her vision blurred, and Annabeth passed out as the pain overwhelmed her senses.

* * *

**Please read and review! Hope you liked it. I researched quite a bit for this chapter to make it more realistic. As always, if there are any mistakes (factual, or in grammar/spelling), feel free to tell me, and I'll look at it. :)**

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	23. Piper XIII

**Author's Note: We hit 50 reviews and 70,000 words! I can't believe it! :) Thanks so much to all who've read, reviewed, favorited, or followed! :) Feel free to review with any mistakes or constructive criticism (or even just telling me to update).**

**Guest: Thank you for reading and reviewing! Glad you like it.**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns PJO, HOO, the PJO characters, the HOO characters, and the Mark of Athena. I own none of that.**

* * *

Chapter 23

PIPER

* * *

She sprinted behind Jason, ducking under trees and tripping, hopping, and panting.

They'd handled the first monster pretty well, but they definitely couldn't fight how every many more there were hiding in the trees nearby.

Jason slowed to a jog about ten minutes after the hissing faded out of range—Piper wasn't really counting the time, the running and not falling was occupying most of her attention.

"Jason," she panted, "I think—I think we can stop now. It won't help if we're all tired."

She was aware of someone muttering, "Yeah, I hate running," behind her, and turned to see who had followed. It was only Percy—who knew where the others were.

Jason turned around also and muttered what sounded like a curse, most likely in Latin, since Piper didn't understand what he said.

"We need to find the others," he announced.

Percy rolled his eyes. "No, duh."

Jason narrowed his eyes, and looked like he was about to say something, but Piper intervened. They'd been getting along recently, but apparently it was a sometimes—sometimes not cooperating type of thing.

"Okay," Piper said, looking warily between the two boys, "If we're ever going to find the others, you two can't fight, okay? I'm sure the others aren't fighting, so you can't either. Plus, we don't even know if they're all together—or in one piece."

Both boys huffed.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Grow up. We just have to fight the others, and soon, okay?" Without even waiting for confirmation, she continued, "Knowing Annabeth, she'll head for Rome, so if we take the shortest route, we'll probably meet up with them."

Muttering about how she just had to get stuck with the two that fought the most, Piper stormed to the edge of the small clearing they'd stopped in and pulled her map out, scanning for landmarks.

"That way," she muttered, slipping between two trees and not even checking to see if Jason and Percy were following.

The soft footsteps behind her told her that they were.

Jason jogged to catch up with her, as Percy lagged behind.

"Sorry, Pipes, we'll stop fighting."

She sighed. "Thanks, but it's not just that that's bothering me. We're not even sure if the others are just roaming around or hurt, or what, and we've lost our best—and only, really—strategist, local shape-shifter, a daughter of Pluto, and repair boy. And, Leo and Annabeth are the only ones who can operate the ship and get us out of here."

"Don't you think I know that?" Jason asked, "Listen, Piper, I know it's bad that we were separated, but at least there's three of us here, right? We'll be fine."

"Wait," Piper turned around. "Percy, don't you know Annabeth's phone number."

He closed his eyes like he was trying to remember, and Piper instantly felt back. "Sorry, I mean, if you can't—"

"No," he sighed. "I think I got it. It's either her phone number or my old school's phone number, but I'm pretty sure it's hers. Or, at least, I hope so."

Piper smiled. "Now, if we can just find a phone, then we can call her."

"And where are we supposed to get a phone?" Jason asked.

"I don't know," Piper said, "I thought of something, now it's your guys' turn."

"I guess if we keep walking, we should come across a town eventually," Jason reasoned.

"Or a monster," Percy muttered.

Piper couldn't help but crack a smile as they continued walking. At least she wasn't stuck with Leo, Hazel, and Frank. Putting those three in the same room alone was nothing if not awkward.

An arrow whizzed by, missing Piper's head by an inch.

"What the—" Percy spun around in a circle, eyeing the trees with his sword already uncapped. Piper and Jason, too, had their weapons out.

Another speeding arrow sent Percy rolling to the ground in order to avoid getting shot.

Cursing under his breath, he cautiously got to his feet.

With each of them facing a different direction, they backed up in the direction they'd been heading before.

"Duck!" Piper yelled. They hit the ground. A flash of bronze caught Piper's attention—the same color of her dagger and Percy's sword. She was beginning to doubt that it was a monster, which meant that their attacker must be—

"Piper," came a whisper from somewhere to her right. It sounded like Jason. "I see water up ahead."

She understood immediately. If they could get to the water, Percy could use his powers, and with the three of them fighting, they could probably overtake whomever was shooting at them.

She relayed the message to Percy on her left, who matched their pace as they continued backing up to the little river. Several more arrows came at them at different intervals from all around. That was the part that worried Piper—whoever was attacking had a strategy, and a good one at that.

The three demigods separated when several arrows came flying at them. Percy stumbled into the nearby water, as Jason and Piper ducked to the other side.

Their enemy came out into the open, and Piper was momentarily confused. Three teenagers jumped down from hidden perches in trees, landing nimbly and shouldering their bows at the same time.

Four more teenagers—presumably demigods or legacies, advanced out of the woods, all seven with various Greek and Roman weapons in hand: spathas, swords, spears, bows, and daggers.

Their odds weren't good, but they'd done the unimaginable before—and this was Percy and Jason working together. If the stories of what they'd done previously were true, then this _should_ be a piece of cake.

Then again, they were demigods. Nothing ever was a piece of cake.

It also made Piper's stomach churn that these demigods had sided with Gaea and the giants, or they certainly weren't allying with Piper and her friends, at the very least.

There were four girls—one redhead with an angry expression and a deadly looking sword, a blond-haired teenager with a grim expression and a long spear gripped tightly in her hands, and a pair of twins, both tall and lean with a scary look in their eyes and various weapons in their clutches.

Two more boys—a short black-haired one who looked a little scared, and a tall brown-haired boy with a slightly bored expression, hung back, in case they decided to run.

One teenager, who looked like the oldest, cautiously approached Percy, who was warily eyeing him from his position in the shallowest part of the river.

"Where are the others, cursed one? There was supposed to be seven! Where are they?"

Completely ignoring his question, Percy moved forward until he was barely in the water, "Who are you?"

"That's none of your concern," he sneered, lunging wildly in, surprising Percy a little. Both swords became a blur, and Piper was mildly impressed with his amount of skill.

Following his lead, they doubled up on Jason, Percy, and Piper, with the scared looking boy in the back, glancing around worriedly.

The two twins came at Piper, and they made the perfect team. It confused her, since it felt like she was seeing double, and they knew each other so well that they were like a fighting machine—it reminded her of how Percy and Annabeth fought. It was too bad that they'd been separated.

She tried everything, but her dagger and her charmspeak wasn't enough. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jason putting up a good fight, but she knew that he too would be slowly overwhelmed.

Then she saw the strangest thing of all. The blond teenager was standing by the younger boy, and they were both watching who Piper assumed to be the leader, and his fight with Percy. Percy had backed up farther into the river, forcing with opponent to follow him. The strange thing was—he didn't look reenergized, in fact, he was getting tired, like usual.

Percy was as quick as ever with his sword, and in the couple of times where he managed to knock the other teenager down, he'd screw his eyes shut and clench his fists, concentrating harder than she'd ever seen him. The water would rise up immediately and flop back down just as fast with a loud _splash!_ like something was overriding Percy's power with his father's element.

She couldn't watch for long—the twins she was fighting were hard, and while she was tiring fast, they seemed unaffected. If there were many demigods trained this well on the opposite side, then… well, this war was going to be much harder than they'd originally expected. There hadn't been any reports of demigods on the other side, before.

Her right arm was bloody, and the only reason that Piper wasn't injured more was because she'd charmspeaked them into leaving (that hadn't worked—but they'd at least been going easier on her).

A swipe, two jabs, and a punch later, Piper was on the ground, and her vision was blurring. Vaguely, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jason getting injured and Percy falling, before everything went black.

* * *

The cold metal was probably what woke her. It was either that, or the hushed voices which really weren't as quiet as they could've been.

"—Cursed one—"

"…So easy to beat."

"So much for the _great_ seven—"

"Blond one, though—"

"The Girl, too—"

"—Other four—"

"Shut up! She's awake."

The black-haired teenager whom she had identified as their leader came into Piper's view.

"Who—" Piper started, but her dry throat made the words almost incomprehensible. "Who are you?"

The boy snorted. "Who are you?"

Piper narrowed her eyes. "You already know that, don't you, or I wouldn't be here right now."

"Ah," he said, "A smart one. Not Athena's, though, correct?"

Piper simply glared at him.

"Your two friends have yet to wake up, Daughter of Aphrodite. They put up quite a good fight. Or, at least one of them did."

Her curiosity won out. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, so you don't know?" he asked. "Well that makes it much easier."

Piper had a feeling that he wasn't talking about her not knowing which friend fought well, but something else.

"Who are you?" she repeated.

"I guess you can know that, at least," he sighed. "Trenton."

"Are you a demigod?"

"How observant of you," he drawled.

"How old are you?"

"I'm not still sixteen."

"Roman or Greek? Do you work for Gaea? Who's your godly parent? Why did you capture us? How do you know about the seven? Why aren't you at a camp?" she demanded, all the questions that had been nagging her were just pouring out.

"None of your concern. Maybe. Why should I tell you? I think it's obvious why. Doesn't everyone? And, a lot of demigods don't make it to camp, Daughter of Aphrodite. Now, stop questioning me, or you'll have to go back to sleep like your friends," he said simply.

Piper mentally matched up each of his answers with her questions, groaning since he'd given no straight answer.

Helplessly, she struggled against her metal chains, glaring at the demigods in the corner who laughed with glee.

"Nuh-uh-uh," he chided, "That won't work."

"Well, are you going to question us or something?" Piper demanded. "Why are you just keeping us here?"

"I believe you already asked why you're here, young one."

"I'm sixteen."

"And I'm seventeen. I'm older."

Piper had to resist the urge to crack a grin, first of all because that sounded so much like something Leo or Percy would say, and secondly, because he sounded so normal, like a regular friendly teenager lording it over his friend simply because he was a year older.

Instead, she rolled her eyes. "So, you're just going to keep us her, in metal chains, and make friendly conversation forever?"

"Possibly."

"Can't I talk to one of them?" Piper asked, pointing to the group of demigods in the corner. "You're not giving me any straight answers."

"Exactly."

By then, Piper was ready to bust out the charmspeak and punch the guy in the guts, demigods or not, even if he was on their side (but if he was, it would be bizarre to capture them), just because he was so annoying. He sounded just as sassy and sarcastic and annoying as Leo or Percy.

She craned her head to the side as far as she could, but still didn't get a very good look at the two boys, who were tied in the same metal chains.

They had some bruises and some cuts, which didn't seem that bad. It didn't surprise her that Jason had them, but Percy's wounds were supposed to heal in water, and he'd been fighting the whole time in the river, and they obviously haven't healed.

A spark of understanding must have shown in her eyes, because Trenton spoke up.

"Ah, so you understand," he commented.

Piper swung her head around to glare at him. "If you hurt them in any way, I swear—"

"Ah, they're already hurt. And I know you care about the blond one more."

Piper blushed, making Trenton grin.

"Come on, please," Piper begged, letting her ready flow of charmspeak lace itself into her words, "Just get me out of these chains, and my friends, too, and show us the way out. Wouldn't that be nice? Maybe then, you could come to one of the camps."

For a few seconds, Trenton got a dreamy look in his eyes, like what Piper was describing was the best option, the thing he and his friends should do right then and there.

"No," he snapped, his eyes focusing again, "Don't charmspeak me, Daughter of Aphrodite. Yes, I know what you were doing."

"Don't call me that?"

"Ah, so you bear resentment to your godly parent. So do we, you know. You could join us, and our cause. Leave behind your weak friends, your doomed and hopeless quest, your unloving gods, your silly camp, and join us."

"Never," Piper spat.

"Fine. That was your only chance. I'm afraid you've sealed your own fate, Daughter of Aphrodite." Piper saw Jason stir. "Oh, look, your little boyfriend is waking up. Let's talk to him now, shall we?"

* * *

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	24. Frank XXIV

**Author's Note: Hi! I'm so excited. We hit 50 reviews (actually, we hit fifty last chapter, but it's still at fifty, so whatever)! Thank you so much to all who have reviewed, read, added this to their favorites list, or followed. It means so much that this story is going so well, and I can't thank you all enough.**

**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series and the characters of Harry and Hermione belong to J.K. Rowling. I don't own the movies or the books. PJO, HOO, the PJO characters, the HOO characters, and The Mark of Athena book all belong to Rick Riordan. Sadly, I don't own those either.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 24

FRANK

* * *

It was bad enough that they had been separated from Piper, Percy, and Jason, but when Annabeth collapsed, then tiny ray of hope that had survived in him turned to dust.

Call it morbid thinking, but that was how Frank was feeling.

And the fact that it was only he, Leo, and Hazel alone with an injured demigod just made it all the more awkward.

All three of them rushed over to Annabeth to help. Frank dug out some ambrosia squares from his backpack as Hazel started dressing the wound. Leo nervously sat by the two, looking for something he could do to help. It wasn't really a three-person job, so he mostly just sat there.

When some color returned back to Annabeth's face, and her arm was covered, Frank and Hazel sat back in relief.

The complete silence was almost overwhelming.

"So, I guess we'll be staying here for a while," Hazel concluded.

Both boys nodded.

"We should move into the trees, just in case we're still being followed," Frank suggested.

Hazel grabbed the medical supplies and her and Annabeth's packs, shouldering them as Frank and Leo carried the unconscious Annabeth into the cover of the seemingly never-ending forest.

"Okay," Leo sighed. "What do we do now? Sit here until something or someone decides to eat us?"

"What else do you want us to do?" Frank rolled his eyes. "If you haven't noticed, Annabeth's unconscious. Unless you're willing to carry her around."

"Hey—" Leo started.

Hazel rubbed her temples. "You two need to stop fighting, for the sake of this quest, as well as my sanity, okay? We don't even know where the rest of them are. They could be…" she trailed off, not wanting to list the possibilities.

Leo pulled some nails and parts out of his tool belt to fiddle with them, and Frank nodded grumpily.

Around two hours later, Annabeth came to, groaning slightly in pain.

"What happened?" she asked.

"During the fight, you must've gotten hurt, and after we ran off, you fainted. We treated your arm a couple of hours ago," Hazel explained.

"Wait—where are—" Annabeth groaned and lied back down again. "They're gone, aren't they? Has anyone called?"

"Yeah, they're gone. And no one called," Leo said.

Annabeth stood up slowly and started pacing. "We should assume they've been caught. If they were fine, Percy would've called by now. He knows my phone number. We don't know where they are. We know Gaea's probably behind this, so we should head for Rome, right? They'd have either have gone there or been captured and taken there. So, we're going to Rome? Let's leave now."

"Annabeth," Frank suggested. "You're hurt. You should rest."

The daughter of Athena shot him a death glare, one that said _don't tell me what to do, and don't mess with me._

"Rome it is," Frank agreed, nodding rapidly, a little like a bobble head.

Annabeth grinned. "Thank you. Now, we're going."

Hazel sighed. "But no fighting for you until that arm's at least a bit better. We could see bone before."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I've had worse."

After a argument fight about whether or not Annabeth was fit to carry her own pack, the daughter of Athena won, and shouldered her bag on her good arm.

"Before we leave, I'm sending an IM to Percy. If he's fine, it should be easy. Why didn't you guys send one before?"

They blushed. "No money."

She rolled her eyes. "Am I really the only one who bothered to pack cash and drachmas and denarii?"

Frank's curiosity won out, so he asked, "Where did you get the denarii?"

She winked and shrugged before fishing out a drachma from her pack. "They aren't that hard to find."

"Okay," Frank said. He was fine with wherever she got the money, as long as she had it.

Annabeth reached deep into hear bag and pulled out a spray bottle, handing it to Leo to create the sheet of mist. "Oh, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon."

She threw the drachma into the watery screen, and the whole thing turned pitch black.

Frank heard voices, hushed and urgent, before the whole the screen collapsed.

"What?" Annabeth asked. "Iris Messages can't just die—unless it's a God cutting it off or someone on the other end cuts it off, but Percy wouldn't do that."

Leo shrugged. "So I guess someone caught them."

Annabeth glared at him. "Way to be positive, Captain Sunshine."

Leo grinned. "It's my job, and, hey, you said it yourself like five minutes ago."

Annabeth shoved the blue spray bottle back into her bag. "Come on, the least we can do is get to Rome and just hope they're there."

They trudged on for a few miles in silence, with each demigod starting to fidget more and more as time passed. Leo was the worst. He'd constructed around five or six metal contraptions in ten minutes flat.

"Do you guys feel like something's watching us?" Annabeth asked after about half an hour. Her dagger was already in her hand and she had been fiddling with it for a while.

"Yeah," Frank agreed, "I think there's going to be a fight soon."

Hazel nodded in agreement.

"Way to jinx it, Zhang," Leo commented.

"Oh, shut up," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're not five years old, Leo. And he didn't jinx it. If there's a fight, that just helps prove our horrible luck."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a rustle came from somewhere to the demigods' left.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Leo grumbled, pulling out a hammer and twirling it around.

Two Cyclops came out of the trees, one from the left, and another from their right side.

Leo and Annabeth, being closer to the left side, took on one Cyclops, and Hazel and Frank started fighting the other.

Frank pulled out a spear, figuring his bow and arrows wouldn't do much good at such a close range.

Hazel vaulted off a nearby rock, gripping her spatha and trying to stab the Cyclops in a spot under his arm, but was easily swatted away by the its right arm.

Frank snuck up on the other side of the large Cyclops, earning a rather large cut on his thigh as he did so.

"Frank?" came Hazel's worried voice from somewhere nearby. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Frank said, squeezing his eyes shut for a second to try and force the thought of the pain to the back of his mind. It was a good thing Hazel was distracting it; otherwise he would've been skewered.

Wincing slightly as he put even a little weight on the leg, Frank hobbled forward, using his spear as a sort of makeshift crutch. The pain slowly started to ebb away, and Frank was able to walk with just a limp.

He raised his spear above his head and stabbed the Cyclops's leg, putting all the strength he had into it.

At the same time, Hazel stabbed her spatha into its arm successfully this time, and the Cyclops let out a hideous moan filled with pain before it slowly disintegrated into dust, giving Hazel and Frank an unwanted gold shower.

Still limping, Frank walked over to Hazel. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Hazel breathed. "Fine. But, Frank, you're hurt! Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine," Frank waved her away.

"Cool!" Leo exclaimed. "I love kicking Cyclops butt. Let's do it again, Beth."

"Call me Beth one more time, or any other nickname for that matter," Annabeth said murderously, as she cleaned her dagger of monster dust, "and I swear, Leo, you'll never be able to fight anything again, let alone a Cyclops."

"Ooh, "Leo mocked, "Scary death threats."

"Valdez?"

"Yeah, Beth?"

"Shut up. Now. Or else?"

"Or else what?"

"I swear, you're going to want to sleep with one eye open tonight."

"You let Percy call you nicknames," Leo complained.

"You're not Percy," Annabeth countered. "Now, shut up Leo, before you lose a limb."

He sighed. "Fine, fine, fine, Ms. Party Pooper. But, you're killing all my fun."

"Not the only thing I'm going to kill," Annabeth muttered darkly as she sheathed her dagger again.

"Just stop it, Leo. You're annoying everyone," Hazel sighed.

"Fine," said the son of Hephaestus. That shut him up, at least. Frank rolled his eyes.

Annabeth fished out her map. "I wonder where we are. Oh, and here, Frank, for your leg." She tossed him a roll of bandages and a baggie of ambrosia squares from her pack.

"Do you have half the camp stores in you bag?" Leo wondered out loud, as Frank ate his ambrosia with the help of Hazel, wrapped his leg injury.

"No, this can't fit everything. I'm not Hermione."

"Hermy-what?" Leo asked.

"Who's that?" Hazel echoed.

"Simply the best character from my favorite book series ever written. Well, my favorite fiction series, anyway," Annabeth supplied.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Have you guys never read Harry Potter? That series is amazing," Annabeth said.

"Never read it," Leo said.

"Never heard of it before," Hazel said.

"I've read it," Frank supplied.

"Thank you, Frank," Annabeth said. "Isn't it amazing? Beautifully written, in my opinion."

He nodded. "Harry reminds me a little of Percy. You know, with the green eyes and black hair and saving the world and everything."

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed. "But, as soon as this quest is over, and we're done with this whole war with Gaea thing, you two are reading those books. No exceptions."

"Did they make movies for it? Can't we just watch those instead of reading? I don't like reading at all, and I'm not that great at it, either," Leo admitted.

"Yes," Annabeth said, "and you're watching those, too, trust me, but you're reading the books first. Now, let's get going. The sooner we get there, the better, and this fight just slowed us down by a lot, especially since Frank's hurt now. We'll have to go slower."

Frank felt bad about slowing the rest of them down as well, in addition to the whole quest, really, but sighing, he figured there wasn't really anything he could do about it. At least Leo wasn't making fun of him for that.

Annabeth continued to look at the map as they travelled, while also scanning the area around them for landmarks.

"Hey," Frank said, "What about that little town?" He pointed to their far right. The trees thinned out, and a small town was visible.

"Okay," she muttered. Frank looked over her shoulder at the map.

Her fingers traced the area of trees they'd been travelling in, until they settled on a similarly sized and placed village.

"That's it!" she exclaimed. "That must be it, so—if that's over there, Rome's actually pretty close. About an hour or two in that direction." She turned on her feet, away from the town, a little off course from where they'd been heading.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Leo grumbled.

"Oh, you be quiet," Hazel scolded.

It seemed the thirteen-year-old daughter of Pluto was the only one who could make the ever-so annoying Leo be quiet. It was actually a little funny, though.

"Now," Annabeth said, some excitement entering her tone, "We just get to Rome as fast as we can."

"But Rome is huge," Leo complained. "How on earth are we supposed to find them?"

Annabeth grinned. "We wait for the monsters to find us and lead us right to them."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Like that'd work. I bet you just said the first thing that popped into your head."

"Athena always has a plan, Valdez. Always. And, shut up. You're really annoying, you know?"

"Fine, fine," he grumbled.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Just stop acting like a five-year-old, and the rest of us will be fine."

Hazel smiled and gave the daughter of Athena a high-five. "True," she said.

"How's your leg holding up, Frank? Think you can make it? We could always stop here for the night and start again in the morning," Annabeth offered.

"No," Frank said, shaking his head. The pain in his left thigh had died down to a dull, persistent throb, and wasn't as noticeable anymore. The ambrosia and bandages had really helped. "I'm fine. It hurts less now."

"Okay," she shrugged, "But anytime it hurts too much, tell me, and we'll stop. Or you could even just tell me to slow down if the pace is too fast."

"Thanks," Frank smiled. Even if Leo was being incredibly annoying and a little rude to Frank, at least Hazel and Annabeth were being nice, even if he didn't really know Annabeth much at all, other than the brief chats on the ship, or what Percy had told Frank and Hazel about her.

Annabeth kept her map out, double-checking with some landmarks to make sure they were heading in the right direction.

"Good thing you're so prepared, Annabeth," Hazel said, after about a half an hour of silence, except for the rustling of leaves underfoot.

Annabeth shrugged. "It's a quest. You'll never know what you'll need, so I just put a little bit of everything. More often than not, the stuff I bring helps and pays off, and they're really not that heavy to carry."

Other than the sounds of the forest, they travelled on in silence, not wishing to alert anyone—friendly or not, whether they be mortal, demigod, immortal, or monster of their presence.

The trees started thinning out after about an hour, and Frank breathed a sigh of relief and awe as the city of Rome came into view.

It was spectacular, to say the least. It was more than he'd ever expected, and it was simply gorgeous.

Rome was also huge, and sprawled out over a large area. Streets were crowded with people, and cars and buses were trying edging through the crowded city.

"Oh," Annabeth said. "Well—"

"This will be fun," Leo interrupted. He skipped ahead of the other demigods, and turned around when he realized they weren't following him. "Well, come on. We have to find them, don't we?"

* * *

**Please review with constructive criticism or even just telling me to update! I've outlined the rest of the story, and there are about six or seven chapters left. It should be done around next month or March. Thanks for reading!**

**On a side note, I'm taking down my other story about reading The Lightning Thief soon. It's been discontinued for a while, and there are only three chapters.**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	25. Percy XXV

**Author's Note: Okay, I am literally freaking out so much right now! I'm just so happy! :) I received seven review since the last update, four for this chapter, and three for others, and I simply can't express my gratitude for all of you who have reviewed, followed, added this story as a favorite, or even just read it. It means so much to me!**

**Replies:**

******Guest (reviewed on 1/27/13): Yeah, I realized that people might be confused, but then I thought you'd all figure it out when you read the chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Lady Kid: Even though you reviewed other chapters, I'll put the replies here. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. It means a lot that you took the time to tell me what you think of it. Glad you like it! :)**

**Guest: So, I'm not sure if this was one person reviewing thrice, or different people, but since they all basically say the same thing, this is a reply to all of them. Thanks for reading and reviewing! Even a simple 'update' encourages me to actually write and update.**

* * *

Chapter 25

PERCY

* * *

"You'll never learn, will you?" said a mocking voice.

Percy cracked an eye open to see who was talking, and saw the back of a teenager about his height, facing the other way, presumably speaking to Jason or Piper.

He sat up, wincing slightly at the dull, throbbing pain persisting in the back of his head, as well as his ribs, which were most likely bruised.

"Trenton," came a harsh whisper from the corner. "He's up." Percy recognized the one in the shadows from earlier, as the brown-haired boy who, along with another girl, had been fighting Jason.

Trenton turned around to face Percy, a sneer still plastered on his face.

"Ah, you're all up now. Come, Percy, join the party. Whoops, my mistake; you can't. You've been captured. So much for the best heroes of our time," he said, approaching Percy.

He could barely see Piper at the other end of the room, but she and Jason didn't seem to be majorly injured—just a couple shallow cuts and undoubtedly, there would be bruises from the fight.

"Guess your daddy isn't going to be helping you now," Trenton said, grinning wildly. "But then again, he's never been that helpful, has he?"

Percy bit his lip and turned his head to the side, refusing to answer.

"Ah, denial. But you know it's true, don't you? _Luke_ knew it's true. _I_ know it's true. We _all_ know it's true, even if some don't like to admit it," he taunted.

Percy shifted his gaze to the floor. He was searching for signs of water. Usually, his body recognized the presence of water within a certain range, he just had to tune into it. He screwed his eyes shut, but nothing came. Either there was simply no water around, or something was severing his connection with it.

"That won't work," Trenton advised. "You'll find that your powers have become very… limited, I guess. But, I'm not the person to tell you about that. You'll figure out soon enough."

Something about what Trenton was saying and how Percy had been feeling earlier, even though he'd been in the river, made everything start piecing together.

He looked up at Trenton with narrowed eyes, but couldn't mask the curiosity in his expression.

"I suppose it's time," he smiled. "I don't see why it has to be explained. Apparently, your little girlfriend has already found out about it."

"Where's Annabeth?" Percy snapped.

"Oh, so he speaks," Trenton mocked. "I don't see why I should tell you where she is, if you don't already know, but I shall. She's in Rome, where she expects to meet up with you."

"How do you know that?" Percy demanded.

Trenton waved off his question like an annoying fly, and stepped closer to Percy. "Now, don't hit me, I'm just going to unlock the cuffs."

"You're letting him go?" Piper asked.

Trenton rolled his eyes. "No, he's being taken somewhere else."

"Why?" she inquired.

"You all ask too many questions," Trenton grumbled. "Someone just wants to talk to him."

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Trenton said.

"Then take us too," Piper said.

"No," he replied, swiftly unlocking the manacles around Percy's wrists and ankles. Before Percy could make a break for it, as he had planned to do originally, Trenton twisted his arms behind his back, so he couldn't run, and a couple of the teens that had been standing in the corner flanked them both.

Percy rolled his eyes at his captors.

The remaining teenagers stayed to watch Piper and Jason, warily keeping an eye on them as Percy left, just in case they tried anything while their Trenton, who appeared to be their leader, was gone.

"Where are we going?" Percy sighed.

"So impatient," Trenton noticed. "Why ask? You'll be there soon enough."

"You sound like my mother," Percy said. "Well, actually, you don't. She's way nicer."

"Just because I'm a teenager doesn't mean I have to act immature like you and your friends," Trenton retorted.

Percy sighed. "It's easier when we're captured by monsters. They're so stupid that they make escaping easy. We must be number-one priority or something. I mean, really, handcuffs? It's not like we'd be able to get out of that room anyway."

"Don't even try. We know what you all are capable of," Trenton replied.

"Thought I'd give it a try," Percy said, shrugging.

Percy thought he saw a smile creep onto his captor's face, but it was wiped away so quickly Percy thought he might have imagined it.

That was an advantage, though, about having demigod captors. Underneath it all, they were still teenagers, they were still young and confused and doubting themselves and their choices, and if worst came to worst, that indecision could be used, and Percy could try to appeal to their better nature, and maybe, just maybe, they'd change their minds.

"What are you doing? Keep walking," said Trenton, and as he shoved Percy forward, Percy realized that he'd been slowing down as he thought.

"Are we there yet?" Percy whined, purposefully trying to sound like an irritating child.

"Shut up," Trenton said.

"Someone's in a bad mood," said Percy.

"I said shut up. You should be glad we're being so nice to you," Trenton informed.

"Yeah, thanks so much, Trenton. We're so very honored," Percy said, sarcasm dripping from his every word.

"They told me you'd be annoying. I didn't think that it'd be possible for you to be this infuriating, though," Trenton grumbled.

Percy smirked to himself. If Trenton was already becoming annoyed with him, it showed he wasn't completely hardcore.

"Listen, can I call you Trent? Trenton's too long," Percy asked.

"No, you cannot," he said.

"Cannot? Who says that? I mean, I know I've been asleep for a while, but I'm pretty sure that most normal people say 'can't'," Percy said.

"Can you just be quiet? We'll be there in a couple of minutes," he said.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Just trying to make small talk. You're rude."

"Be quiet! You don't need to have this much freedom. We could—we could blindfold you and knock you out and carry you, and handcuff you," Trenton threatened.

"Go ahead," Percy shrugged. "I don't care."

Trenton just shoved him to move faster. "Hurry up."

"Pushy, pushy," he whined.

"We're here," Trenton announced after a few minutes. "Go inside. She's waiting."

"So this mysterious person's a she? Are you allowed to tell me that?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You would've found out in a minute, you idiot," Trenton snapped.

"Hey, only Annabeth can call me an idiot," Percy protested.

Trenton rolled his eyes, and opened the enormous doors in front of them, shoving Percy inside.

After stumbling inside, Percy heard the door lock behind him. He'd been teasing Trenton just because of his nervousness. He had a suspicion about whom they had brought him here to talk with.

The door being locked just brought reality crashing down on him. He had been captured, he was in the enemy's hands, the only people who could save him, Jason, and Piper didn't have a clue about where they were or that they had even been captured by the enemy side.

He replaced his insecurity with a calm façade, but couldn't stop his foot from tapping impatiently on the ground.

"Ah," an earthy chuckle echoed around the room Percy was in. It was dimly lit, so all he could make out were dark walls and foreboding flickering torches.

"You're here. I must say, I was rather disappointed, Perseus. It took you quite some time to get here. And not even on your own. We had to capture you, for you to arrive. You heroes are getting lazy," the soft voice of Gaea said, her voice rumbling around the room, so Percy couldn't pinpoint if she was inside the room with him, in a solidified form, or merely an echo of her voice was in the earth around him.

"I blame it on the gods," she added. "We need a new golden age, without those foolish young ones in charge and messing things up."

"You're talking like Kronos did. We beat him," Percy said.

She chuckled. It was a horrifying sound that just sounded so wrong. Something so pure evil shouldn't be able to laugh so amiably.

"Ah, yes, he gave a rather… admiral effort, though he didn't have the plans that I do, or the resources, or the information. Though, I suppose you will realize that soon enough," Gaea materialized in the room with Percy, with vine-covered thick jail bars in between them, separating the room in half.

When gods assumed their true forms, demigods, being part mortal as well, had to turn away or (at least most of the time) die from seeing the divine presences. Gaea was on a whole new level, which only discouraged Percy more about their upcoming war.

She wasn't even fully awake yet, but was able to muster enough power to appear in a form, and that presence alone nearly overwhelmed Percy.

Looking at the goddess for too long hurt, and even being in the same room was tiring; he could feel his strength disappearing fast, which was bad, if he needed to fight his way out and run.

If Percy tried to focus on her face, or really any part of her, she'd disappear into the darkness behind her, and Percy would only be able to hear her voice, not actually see her.

Her clothes seemed to be woven from earth, moving and flowing with her like molten lava from a volcano.

Basically, it made Percy's head spin.

"What is this mysterious plan you have? It has something to do with me, right? That guy Trenton said something about it; he said you'd probably tell me," Percy said.

"That other one, the daughter of Athena—she figured it out. But, she will be out of the picture for a while, won't she? Yes, yes, we'll make sure of that," Gaea assured.

"What are you talking about now?" Percy demanded.

"Oh, but they told me you've already received your little prophecy. Does it not mention the Mark of Athena? Yes, she will have a hard time here in Rome, young hero. And you won't be able to help, now will you?" the earth goddess taunted.

"What are you going to do to her?" he asked.

"Oh, me? Why, nothing, foolish demigod. That is something else entirely, but it does work in my favor, so I will let it be," she said.

"What's this plan, then?" Percy asked, figuring that she wouldn't give anything more away about Annabeth's situation aside from vague details.

"Haven't you noticed already? What about the river? Use your father's power, silly hero. Can you sense any water nearby?" Gaea asked.

"Well, no," Percy admitted. "But, water isn't everywhere."

"But it's here," she said softly. As she waved her hand, a small hole opened up in the wall to Percy's left, and a small stream of water came out, pooling onto the floor.

Gaea made a motion with her hand, like she was pushing the air down, and the floor underneath the water hole sank down, creating a small pool.

The water collected in the depression until it was full, at which point Gaea waved her hand, causing the hold in the wall to close.

"Go on," the earth goddess encouraged. She was smiling, making Percy even more nervous as he approached the pool of water.

He held his hand out and concentrated, waiting for that familiar tugging sensation in his gut that would start even as he got close to water.

Sweat started forming on his forehead. His eyebrows squeezed together and his jaw clenched as he imagined the water in the pool moving, swirling lifting up because of his will. He was the son of Poseidon, and this was his element, and he could control the water. He could imagine it, see it all in his head, the water rising up from the ground, forming into a blob in midai

Satisfied, even though it had taken more effort than usual, Percy opened his eyes.

The sight before him was slightly startling. The water, which Percy had expected to be floating at about his eye level, was still sitting in the pool, as still as a rock.

"What…" he trailed off. "But," he pointed to the water, "I told it to move. It should've moved. Why didn't it move?"

Gaea produced a horrible laugh once again.

"Have you not figured it out still? This is quite amusing, I must say."

"What?" Percy asked, "Did you, like, steal my water powers or something? Was that your big scary plan?"

Gaea cocked her head to the side a little, a smirk plastered on her face.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well, if that was your plan, I'm afraid it's not much."

"Oh, don't worry," Gaea assured, "you've only discovered a small part of it. The other part, which is much more important, is still in the process of happening."

"What other part?" Percy inquired, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Well," Gaea said. "I won't tell you all of it—that would just ruin the fun, now wouldn't it? But, know this. Your powers can't just disappear. Something, or someone will gain the power."

Percy snorted. "Yeah, right. You can't do that. You're making this up."

"My dear misguided hero," Gaea said softly. "Why would I make this up?"

Percy seemed to be at a loss for words. For once, he had no quick comeback ready to roll off his tongue.

"You see? You may deny it all you want, foolish demigod, but that still will not change anything," said Gaea. "But you have been brought here for a reason."

"Other than messing with my head?" Percy asked.

Gaea sighed, and walked to the opposite wall of the earthen room, her billowing robes puffing out behind her.

"Not only that," she snapped, her previously decent disposition worsening by the second. "There's something else, concerning your curse."

"My curse?" Percy asked, bewildered.

"Your curse of Achilles, you stupid boy," the goddess steamed.

"I don't have it," Percy said, knowing it was bad to give something like that away, but if her plans had something to do with it, he might as well thwart them by telling her the curse washed away in New Rome.

"I know that. I know everything," she sneered. "All your little precious 'secrets,' well they're not very secret anymore. Your old mortal spot—that is no longer secret, either."

"What—but that doesn't even matter anymore," Percy said, still obviously confused.

Gaea dramatically sighed, a look of pure evil determination coating her face.

Before Percy could protest or try to back away and fight the goddess, she strode forward confidently, passed right through the seemingly solid bars, and pressed her hand against the small of his back, his old anchor to the mortal world and life.

Her hand wasn't solid though, Percy realized. This was merely a fraction of her essence, and she was merely an illusion, a ghost.

It was no longer painful, but Percy felt a spark of electricity jolt through his back, as the tip of her fingertips, which was really just a cold gust of air, brushed against his back. She retracted her hand away, and stood back with a smile on her face.

Percy suddenly felt bone-tired, like Gaea's gentle tap on his back had drained all of his energy out of him. His vision started blurring, and everything in his head seemed muddled, and Percy couldn't seem to control his body anymore.

He commanded his arm to move up, but just like the water had disobeyed, his arm did the same and remained limp at his side.

Percy didn't even have any time or the ability to ask Gaea what she had done—why he couldn't move or think properly—why he seemed like a stranger in his own body, and why he just felt so tired all of a sudden.

Percy fell to the ground, or at least he assumed he did, because of the dull ache that spread from his arms. The world turned gray, darkening and darkening, until the shadows seemed to stretch across the room, and Percy's vision turned black.

* * *

THIRD PERSON

* * *

Laughing, the boy strode into the room. He looked to be approximately sixteen, maybe seventeen, with coal-black hair, and bright green eyes that took in the whole room at once.

He stretched his arms and back, yawning. His laughter, the cause of it unknown, had ended. The boy sat down at the long table in the room, flexing his fingers and watching them as he did so.

He kicked his feet up onto the table, folding his hands behind his head, and then leaning back in the chair.

A voice spoke from the opposite side of the room.

The boy nodded in agreement, confirming whatever the voice was saying.

Whoever was sitting in the shadows laughed and laughed, obviously confusing the teenager, who seemed to be a little out of it.

Seemingly dismissed, the black-haired boy stood up from his seat and left the room, walking a little unsurely, like a toddler who had just learned to walk and was prone to falling.

He exited the room.

* * *

PERCY

* * *

Percy woke up, surrounded by darkness, and listening to the hushed and worried voices of Piper and Jason.

* * *

**A/N: Please disregard what I said in the last chapter about the number of chapters remaining. I forgot and left something out of my outline. I edited the outline now, and there should be approximately nine or ten chapters left. Thanks for reading, and please review and tell me what you think! :)**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	26. Leo XXVI

**Author's Note: Enjoy!**

**Replies:**

**Guest (2/3/13): So, I think you were saying 'what the heck?' about the real Mark of Athena, not this story, so not really much to reply to, but thanks so much for reading and reviewing!**

**Guest (2/5/13): Well, here you have the next chapter to read. It's Leo's POV, though, so you'll be hearing about the other group. Enjoy, and thanks for reading and reviewing! It means a lot to me.**

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns the PJO series, the HOO series, the PJO characters, the HOO characters, and the Mark of Athena book. I don't own any of that. **

* * *

Chapter 26

LEO

* * *

"Do we have to?" he complained.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No, you don't. The rest of us are taking buses to the Forum and Old Rome, but if you want, you can walk. I, for one, certainly don't mind that at all."

"Why can't we eat first?" Leo whined.

Annabeth sighed and touched her dagger, like she was restraining herself from stabbing the son of Hephaestus with it. "We are assuming they've been captured. Gaea and her monsters, being ancient, probably picked one of the older sections of Rome. Those two are our best bet."

Leo huffed. "Fine."

The daughter of Athena pulled out one of those folding-type maps that Leo always ended up ripping when he tried to fold them back up again.

It ended up being so large when it was completely unfolded that she had to hand the other half of it to Frank.

"What the Hades is that?" Leo asked.

"List of bus and train routes in Rome, with their paths drawn on a map." Annabeth traced her finger along one route. "We take this bus…all the way to the last stop here, walk to that station, then that train takes us down to… a street that's… about a ten minute walk from the Forum, give or take. Then, if they're not there, we can catch another bus, or train to Old Rome."

She smiled satisfactorily. "And our first bus stops in ten minutes right about…" she squinted down the uncharacteristically empty Roman street they'd stopped at and pointed at a small sign at the far end. "There."

Hazel smiled and helped Annabeth fold up the enormous map of Rome. "Good thing you're with us, Annabeth, otherwise we would've been heading wherever Leo's stomach thought was best."

Frank and Annabeth laughed, but Leo just pouted. "Hey, I'm a growing boy. It's not my fault that I need food."

"Well," Annabeth said, "You're not _really _a _growing_ boy."

Leo glared at the daughter of Athena, who was still a few inches taller, even if she was of a normal height for her age.

Frank laughed outright, but Hazel covered her smile with a hand, and looked in the other direction when the urge to giggle became too great.

"It's not my fault," Leo muttered. "Blame it on genetics."

Annabeth laughed. "Let's just get going. We don't want to miss our bus, Repair Boy."

"Oh, not you too," Leo grumbled, as they made their way towards the bus. A strange burst of happiness and normality flared through Leo, making him feel like they were his friends (no matter how strange and teasing they were).

These moments of happiness were happening more and more, even throughout the quest, and for once, Leo wanted to stay. Running away from everyone he knew didn't seem like an option anymore, even though it seemed pretty good compared to fighting against an earth goddess and her giant children.

"Leo?" Frank asked, waving his hands in front of the demigod. "You spaced out for a few minutes there. The bus is here."

"Oh, well, what are you waiting for, then?" Leo asked cheerfully, hopping onto the waiting bus.

Leo plopped down with his beaten up old black backpack onto a nearby chair.

Hazel sat next to him, with Frank on her other side.

Leo saw a flash of blonde hair, assumed it to be Annabeth, and relaxed and closed his eyes as the bus lurched forward.

"Guys, um," Frank started.

"Where's Annabeth?" Hazel asked. "I saw her, just a second ago, right before the bus started—she was getting on, and it started, and she was gone."

Leo muttered a curse in Ancient Greek, before standing up and pressing his face to the window. "Can't see her. We're too far away. Hades, now we have to go back. Anyone remember where we were at, or even where we're going?"

"Leo," Hazel said softly. "Leo, we can't."

"What do you mean?" Frank asked. "We can't just leave her there."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "I don't want to 'just leave her there.' Don't you guys remember the prophecy? _Wisdom's Daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome_? Does that ring a bell? She has to do whatever this is _alone_. I don't like it anymore than you do, but I think we should just continue on to the Forum and Old Rome to find Percy and the rest, like she said."

"But—," Frank protested.

"I don't like it either," she shrugged. "But we all knew something like this would happen. It's part of the prophecy."

"Fine," Leo said. "But if we see a fire or anything burning through Rome, we're going back to find her."

"Absolutely," Hazel agreed.

"So, um, do we know where we're going?" Frank asked, looking around at the unfamiliar streets of Rome.

Hazel sighed. "Annabeth has the map. Okay, she said that we get off at the last stop, and there's a train station nearby. That's first. I think we take a train to the Forum. I'm not exactly sure where that is, but there should be a map at the train station, hopefully."

She sat back down in her seat and closed her eyes, but Leo was now much too jumpy to think about resting. Plus, it would be easy for monsters to attack three sleeping demigods.

Frank must have been thinking about the same thing, because he sat back down, but kept his eyes open and alert, switching from watching the passengers on the bus to the gorgeous and bustling city outside.

"I still feel like we should go after her," said Leo, referring to Annabeth.

"I know," Frank said, "And I bet Hazel does too. We can try to find her, but we already know she's supposed to do whatever this "Mark of Athena" thing is alone."

"That's stupid," Leo declared.

Frank rolled his eyes. "Who ever said prophecies weren't stupid?"

"True, very true, Zhang," Leo nodded. He pulled some old radio antennae out of his tool belt, spinning them between his fingers absentmindedly. Few minutes and several parts from his tool belt later, Leo had a small radio in his lap.

"Does it work?" Frank asked.

"What?" Leo said.

"Your little radio thing. Does it work?" he asked.

Leo shrugged. "I don't know. I probably didn't wire it correctly, since I wasn't really paying attention. So we might not get a signal."

"Try it," Frank suggested. "I think we still have a while on this bus."

Leo tweaked the wire. "I don't know, man. This is Rome, not America. I've never been here, forget making a radio here…"

Soft classical music started emanating from the radio.

"Whoa," Frank said, obviously impressed.

"Huh," said Leo, turning the radio around in his hands. "That's cool."

The music increased in volume, and several passengers looked over to Leo in annoyance.

"I think that's my cue to turn it off," Leo said, unscrewing a couple parts and shoving them back into his tool belt.

The pre-recorded voice announced their destination overhead from the speakers.

Frank studied a small map of the bus's route on the wall behind him. "That's the stop before ours, I think. Next one's…uh, the one near the train station. That's where Annabeth said we're supposed to go first, right?"

"Yeah," Leo said. "I think the train takes us to that forum, or something. Hazel knows."

"Good thing she remembers what Annabeth said, because I wasn't paying attention," Frank admitted.

"Me either, really. Half the time, what she says just goes in one ear and out the other, for me," Leo said.

He and Frank had always been rather uneasy around each other, and Hazel usually looked at the two of them as if they'd blow up if she left them in the same room for too long. Maybe it wasn't that they couldn't be friends—maybe it was that they just weren't really trying, or making an effort.

Leo was always hanging out in the engine room, or with Jason and Piper.

Frank usually stayed with Hazel, or Percy. They really didn't talk unless they had to, which probably wasn't a very good idea.

"I'm going to wake up Hazel. We should be there in a couple of minutes," Frank said.

"Okay," Leo shrugged.

Frank gently nudged Hazel awake, who sleepily rubbed her eyes before sitting up straight again.

"What are we looking for when we get there?" Frank asked the daughter of Pluto.

"Just…I don't know, really, just any sign of Percy, Jason, or Piper," she shrugged helplessly.

"That's it?" Leo asked incredulously. "We just wander around Rome looking for three teenagers? That'll take forever."

Hazel sighed. "Well, that's all we've got. Annabeth probably had a plan, but who knows where she is right now, or what she's doing."

"And, don't forget," Frank added, "They're demigods. We should be looking for anything out of place, any sign of a fight—destroyed buildings, gold monster dust, whatever."

"And what if the monsters that attacked them try to attack and capture us as well?" Hazel questioned.

Leo grinned. "That, my friend, is when we get to fight." He plucked a hammer out of his tool belt and swung it around by its handle, narrowly missing a nearby passenger.

Frank snorted. "Good luck facing the giants with that, Leo."

Leo widened his eyes, acting offended. "Hey, man, don't underestimate the hammer. This guy's done a lot."

"Well," Frank said, "First of all, I'm pretty sure your hammer's not a 'guy', and second, my bow and arrows—"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "I am sure that _your _hammer and _your_ bow," she pointed to each demigod as she named their weapon of choice, "have both fought through many battles. Now be quiet or we'll miss the stop. These buses don't wait for long before taking off."

"Yes ma'am," Leo saluted.

Frank tried to stifle a snicker.

The almost incomprehensible recorded voice coming from the ceiling's speakers announced their stop.

Leo decided to pick up a complimentary map of the bus's route and surrounding area from the plastic container of them before stepping onto the crowded streets of Rome.

"Uh, right over there," Hazel pointed. "Check on the map. Isn't that it?"

"Er… I think so? Wait, yeah, that's it," Leo said, glancing at the map and then back up at the train station.

"It's probably only a five minute walk," Frank estimated.

"And, then we take a train to… where?" Leo asked.

"Uh, the Forum. Well, she said take a train to someplace that's near the Forum. So, we just find a map, and look for the next train that takes us somewhere near there. If they're not there, then we continue to Old Rome," Hazel suggested.

"What is it with you Romans?" Leo asked. "Old Rome, Rome, New Rome, you guys really need some more original names."

Hazel sighed. "Let's just find our train and get Percy and the rest out."

The group walked over to the train station, stopping at some posters with train routes.

"Uh…" Leo pointed to a red dotted line across the map. "Ah, is that it? Isn't that the Forum over there? That train stops pretty close to it."

"Huh, yeah," Frank agreed. "That'll work."

"And it leaves in, like, ten or fifteen minutes, I think," Hazel checked, cross-referencing with the board announcing the arrival of the next trains.

"That's lucky," Frank said.

"And you jinxed it," Leo said.

Frank rolled his eyes.

"Come on," Hazel said. "It's coming soon."

"Uh," Leo said, "Don't we need tickets or something?"

"Do you have any money?" Frank asked. "I don't."

Hazel shrugged. "Well, Annabeth gave me some change earlier. She said it was just in case. She probably guessed that she'd be separated from us soon."

Leo shook his head. "This would be a whole lot easier if she just told us when she figured something out."

"You two—just stay here. Don't, like, do anything, okay?" Hazel warned, pulling a small wad of money out of her backpack.

"Um, I don't know about how things work here in Rome, but in America, they get a little suspicious of thirteen-year-olds buying train tickets," Leo said.

"You're right," Hazel admitted. "But how would you know? I mean, about the train tickets thing."

"Oh, you know," Leo said vaguely, shrugging, "I, uh, I've tried, you know, to—to buy train tickets, when I was younger. Usually, if you look, like, pretty young, they ask where your parents are."

"So you're suggesting…?" Frank asked.

"Well," Leo said, "Hazel looks the youngest, so maybe she shouldn't go. And I'm not that tall either, as Annabeth so rudely pointed out earlier, so maybe… you should go, Frank. You could pass as a college kid, if you, uh, squint, and ignore your…face. Well, actually never mind, you could just pass as a high school student."

"Thanks," Frank muttered dryly.

"Here's the money," Hazel offered.

Frank looked at the few bills skeptically. "Are you sure this is enough?"

Leo shrugged. "Just get the cheapest tickets you can find."

Frank glared at him before accepting the money. He glanced at the board announcing upcoming train arrivals, and headed for a nearby ticket kiosk, impatiently waiting in line.

"So…" Leo said.

Hazel didn't reply.

Leo coughed awkwardly after a long and rather awkward silence between the two demigods. "Oh, Frank's coming back. And the train is coming, too."

"Let's go," Hazel muttered.

"Three seats on the next train over to the Forum," Frank announced as he approached them, waving the tickets around.

"They didn't say anything?" Leo questioned. "About a teenager buying some train tickets?"

Frank shook his head. "The lady selling the tickets didn't really care. It looked like she was having a bad day."

Leo shrugged. "Better for us. At least she wasn't a monster."

"Speaking of monsters, we should keep an eye out. There might be a lot here," Frank advised.

"Might be?" Leo snorted. "I think there _definitely_ will be a ton of monsters here."

Frank rolled his eyes. "Way to be optimistic."

"Would you rather have optimism that brings false hope, or realism that'll prepare you for what's bound to happen?" Leo asked.

Frank and Hazel stared at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Hazel said, "It's just that, uh, that was surprisingly wise thing for you to say, compared to what you usually say."

"And what do I usually say?" Leo asked.

"Mainly jokes, and rude comments," Frank replied.

"Ah, good point," Leo agreed. "Let's just say that I was feeling a burst of wisdom."

"I doubt that's ever going to happen again," Frank said.

"I agree," Hazel nodded.

"Hey!" Leo said.

"Come on," Hazel laughed. "Let's go. The train is here. Unless, like Annabeth said, you want to walk there."

"Yeah, let's go catch that train. I'm not really in a 'wandering around Rome waiting for some monster to kill me' mood," Leo muttered.

"And the sarcasm returns," Frank announced, marching toward the train.

"It never left," Leo muttered, following him. Hazel trailed behind the both of them, shaking her head and smiling.

They clambered onto their already crowded train car.

"How long is this going to be?" Hazel asked.

"Less than an hour, I think," Said Frank, "I'm not really sure, but it can't be too long; it's not that far."

"I'm taking a nap," Leo announced, finding the nearest seat.

Frank and Hazel sat next to him.

Leo cracked an eye back open. "Any horrible deadly monsters coming to kill us?"

Hazel laughed. "Not yet."

"Reassuring," Leo muttered, finding a more comfortable position.

Leo didn't even realize he was falling asleep until Hazel started shaking him awake.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"Come on," she whispered harshly. "Cyclops—like three or four. They've been on the train this whole time. Get up!"

"Hammer, hammer, come on, there," Leo hopped up, trying to dig out his hammer out of his tool belt. "Hammer, ah, Hammer!"

"Stop dancing and fight," yelled Frank, trading his arrows in for a spear, as he fought the Cyclops close-range.

Leo looked up and cursed.

Hazel and Frank were trying their best to fight four Cyclops, and it wasn't looking too good for them, being so outnumbered.

The mortals had backed into a corner in fear, some screaming, and some looking like they couldn't even believe what they were seeing.

Leo sprinted towards the mortals. "Okay, stay calm, stay calm. Just, how about you all go into the next car, okay? We'll take care of this—stuff going on here."

Some of the adults seemed at first a little reluctant to listen to a trio of teenagers, and let them take on whatever they saw through the Mist, but they took one look at the Cyclops again, probably Leo and his friends knew what they were doing, considering they must've seen some sort of weapon through the Mist and seen them fighting the Cyclops, and fled to the next train compartment.

Leo ran to rejoin the fight with Frank and Hazel.

Hazel tossed him a dagger. "Just in case that hammer doesn't work out."

Leo pouted. "My hammer is amazing."

"Just," Hazel panted, narrowly dodging an attacking Cyclops, "fight, Leo."

"Okay, I can do that," Leo flung his hammer at one of the Cyclops. Frank and Hazel had already sent one to Tartarus, and they were now battling one more each. The last one had gone for Leo after he came back from telling the mortals to leave.

"Guess that I'll use the dagger, then," Leo muttered, ducking behind the Cyclops attacking him and trying to stab it.

The mortals had already fled.

Leo was knocked to the ground by the Cyclops's arm. He tried kicking the Cyclops, which resulted in it barely budging an inch, so he instead resorted to chucking his new dagger at it.

It disintegrated as the knife hit its mark, and Leo picked it up again with a sigh of relief, ready to help Frank and Hazel.

They, however, were doing fine on their own, as one Cyclops was gone, and as Leo turned to help, Hazel stabbed the other as Frank distracted it.

Leo picked up his hammer and offered the dagger back to Hazel.

"You keep it," she said, "Looks like you might need it."

"Hey!" Leo protested. "All I need is my hammer… well, usually."

Frank laughed and sat back down, and then other two demigods quickly followed.

"So, I guess that hammer didn't work out for you this time, now did it?" asked Frank.

"What?" Leo protested. "Well, you didn't use your precious bow and arrows, either. You had to fight with that spear."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," said Frank.

Hazel sighed at their banter, but had a small smile on her face nevertheless.

"Hey," Leo said. "Think of it like this: now, there are four less Cyclops in Rome, and we get a whole train compartment just to ourselves."

"And that's just because the mortals ran screaming out of here in terror," said Hazel dryly.

Leo shrugged, causing the other two to laugh, as they sank back into their respective seats.

It was weird how they could be so happy and carefree and laughing right after a fight with some Cyclops that had unknowingly sneaked onto their train, and had probably been watching them, waiting to attack.

"Well, at least we got that over with," Hazel said.

"What do you mean?" asked Frank, closing his eyes. "I'd rather have not fought the Cyclops."

"It's just that we knew we were going to be attacked—didn't you guys have that feeling that you get whenever a monster is about to fight you? We all know there'd be a fight, eventually, on our way there, so I feel less tense now," Hazel explained.

"Uh," Frank said, "That doesn't really make much sense, but whatever. At least there were only four."

"Yeah," Leo smiled. "Any more and we probably would've been toast."

"Agreed," Frank said. "You think the mortals are coming back? I mean, to this section?"

"Nah," Leo said.

"Yeah," said Hazel, "They'll probably just stay wherever they ran off to. They seemed pretty scared of whatever they could see, and I know if I was one of those mortals, I'd probably stay far away from here and try to forget what I saw."

"Now, I am going to finish that nap I started earlier," Leo said, closing his eyes and relaxing in his seat.

A voice came over the loudspeakers of the train.

"Well, uh, Leo?" Hazel said, smothering her giggles.

"What?" grumbled Leo.

"You know that nap you were talking about? I don't think that's going to happen. They just announced our arrival—we're here," Hazel laughed.

"Perfect timing," he muttered sarcastically, standing up and stretching, causing Frank to join in with Hazel's laughter as well. Leo just rolled his eyes at them.

Soon after, the train doors opened, and the three demigods walked calmly out of the train, ignoring confused looks about them strolling out of an otherwise completely compartment, while all of the other train cars were full to the brim.

They jogged the short distance over to the Forum, looking for anything suspicious.

There were mainly tourists and tour groups, walking around, and excitedly taking photos with cameras and phones.

"Where are they?" asked Hazel frustratedly.

"Well, did you expect them to be sitting out here waiting nicely with their captors?" asked Leo, sarcasm dripping from his every word.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "No, but I can hope, right?"

"Hey," Frank said. "Aren't those empousa? Hey, guys, look over there!" He pointed to an old Roman building tucked into a side street near the Forum.

"Yeah," Hazel said, "Those are empousa, and they're going into that building."

"Well," said Leo, "And this is just a guess—but I'm going to bet that Jason, Piper, and Percy are there, or at least that's a good place to start looking for them."

"Agreed," said Frank and Hazel simultaneously.

"Well, then," Leo said dramatically, walking across the Forum, "Let's go free our friends and beat up some monsters."


	27. Jason XXVII

**Author's Note: ****I don't usually update this quick, so I hope you enjoy!**

**Replies:**

**Guest: This time, I actually updated relatively quickly. Thanks for reading and reviewing! **

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns PJO, the PJO characters, HOO, the HOO characters, and the Mark of Athena book. I do not own any of that.**

* * *

Chapter 27

JASON

* * *

"Are you okay?" Jason shook Percy awake.

Percy bolted upright. "What…?"

"You're not hurt or anything, so what happened?" Piper asked.

"Nothing happened, I think. Something about Achilles, water—I don't think anything else happened. Or, at least, I don't remember if anything did," Percy yawned.

"You don't remember? What's my name, then?" Jason asked.

Percy rolled his eyes, and sat up against the wall that Piper and Jason were leaning against.

"Jason, I still have my memory. I just don't think she really said anything," Percy explained.

"She?" Piper asked. "But you went with Trenton."

"Trust me," Percy said, "I had a lovely chat with him, too, but he took me to see Gaea. Well, not see her, really. She was on the other side of some bars, and she wasn't actually there. It seemed like she was projecting part of her essence or whatever, since she's still asleep."

"Well, at least she wasn't woken up yet. That's good," Piper said.

"I think we'd all know if she woke up," Jason said. "And after you came back, they lightened up security. They're all outside, now, and took off the cuffs. The door's still locked, though. Care to explain?"

Percy smiled. "I think we have Trenton to thank for that."

Piper's expression showed her confusion. "Him? The guy who tried to kill us? Are you sure that you didn't hit your head, Percy?"

He laughed. "I'm pretty sure, but when I talked to him, he seemed like he still didn't know which side to be on, even though he works for Gaea right now. I mean, they're all our age, right? I think he's trying to help—or at least, this is his messed up way of showing it."

"Pretty messed up, all right," Jason agreed.

"Are you guys done with your little tea party, or are we going to try to break out, now?" Piper asked.

"What? No lunch first?" Percy asked.

"As much as I'd love to, Jackson, the answer is no," Piper said.

"Really? Whenever we're in a war, I always get in the mood for burgers," Percy complained.

"Seriously?" Jason asked. "What did you do? See Kronos coming in the last Titan War, and go 'oh, time for burgers, war can wait'?"

Percy rolled his eyes and dusted off his battered jeans as he stood up. "No. I waited until after the war and went for burgers with Annabeth and your sister. There were better things to do at the time, even though I'll bet the Hermes cabin pilfered the stores at one point, what with all the mortals being unconscious."

"What? I didn't hear that part of the story," Piper said.

"You said it yourself—tea parties later; escape now," Jason said, smirking.

The daughter of Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "But you have to tell me later, then. And I can charmspeak you into telling me, if you won't on your own, Jackson."

He acted offended. "Sheesh, McLean, I never said I wouldn't. No need for threatening me."

Jason couldn't help but feel a little hurt that Piper was talking so naturally and playfully with Percy, while the two of them had been acting rather awkward around each other.

He hid his hurt behind nonchalance as he spoke to them. "Really, guys, you started using ast names? We have to get going. We don't even know where Leo, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank are right now."

"Right," Piper agreed, standing up. Jason followed suit.

Jason peered through the tiny crack between the door and the wall, where the hinges were. "Uh, I see one guy…well I can't really see much, but they'd probably have a couple of people there, right?"

"Hey, is there a bathroom here?" Piper asked.

"Seriously? Can't you hold it?" Percy whined.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Jackson. I don't really have to go. But, there's no bathroom here. And," she quieted her voice, "If I tell them I have to go, they'll escort me out. Getting it now?"

Percy grinned, understanding. "Let's see if you're a good actress."

Jason motioned Percy to hide next to him behind the door, so that when it opened, they wouldn't be seen. "But," Jason said, "Isn't this a really cliché way to escape—like what you see in all the movies. Won't they expect us to do something like this?"

Piper laughed. "It is very cliché, but I doubt they've watched many movies in their spare time recently, considering they work for an evil earth goddess."

"Good point," Jason admitted. "But, what are you going to do—just, like, knock or what—"

Piper kicked the door.

"And there's that," Jason muttered. Percy covered his mouth to prevent his laughter from escaping.

No reply came from outside. Piper huffed in annoyance and kicked it repeatedly.

After that didn't work, she spoke up. "Come on! I have to go to the bathroom. There is no way I'd ever go in here!"

The door cracked open, and a frustrated voice floated in from the corridor outside. "What do you want, daughter of Aphrodite?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "I have a name. Learn it."

"What do you _want_?" the guard repeated.

"Are you deaf?" she asked. "Didn't you hear? I have to go to the bathroom, and there is no way I'd ever go in here, especially with those two here." She jerked her head to the back corner of the room, which was out of the guard's line of sight—she was probably hoping the enemy demigods would assume Jason and Percy were there.

The guard started talking to someone else, presumably the other demigod or demigods standing guard with him. Piper tapped her feet impatiently, with the crack of light coming through the doorway illuminating a sliver of her carefully crafted expression of boredom.

The door shut again, but Jason could still hear the voices coming from right outside.

The quiet murmuring continued for a few minutes, and soon a new set of footsteps approached the doorway. Another voice joined the rest, and what appeared to be a heated debate continued.

Jason's confusion was evident on his face. The security on them must be really tight if it took so long for them to decide if they should let Piper just go to the bathroom, because hopefully, they didn't know what Jason, Piper, and Percy were planning.

If that was so, though, why did they take their cuffs off, lighten up the number of demigod guards, and on top of that, move them all outside the room, inside of watching them at all times, like they'd been doing before?

Maybe it was like Percy said, and they—or at least Trenton—were having second thoughts about their decision of siding with Gaea, so he was indirectly making their escape easier, maybe even helping them.

It really didn't add up—didn't make sense. It was possible that someone else beside Trenton was in charge now, but he highly doubted that.

He heard three loud thuds, and Piper seemed surprised, showing that it wasn't her who'd made the noise.

"What?" Percy whispered, trying to look through the crack in the door to see what was happening.

Piper yanked the door handle to see if it would open. It stayed as shut as it had been before.

Jason heard a loud curse in Ancient Greek that was quickly cut off. Jason recognized that voice—he knew it. It sounded so familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

The doorknob jiggled and opened.

"LEO!" Piper's face broke out into a grin, as she saw who was standing in the doorway.

She ran forward and gave him a hug, causing the door to swing open even more. Percy and Jason had to jump out from their hiding spot in order not to be crushed.

Two more demigods stepped into the doorway. Frank and Hazel stood there, with excited smiles on their faces and a fine layer of monster dust coating their clothes.

"Hey guys," Percy smiled, waving.

Leo was still grinning like a madman. "Hey, Jason, Percy. What stupid stuff did you guys have to do to get caught? I mean, seriously, we had to break you out of here. You guys are losing your touch."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Nice to see you, too, Leo, and we had an escape plan."

"An escape plan which obviously didn't work if you guys were still stuck here when we came," Leo retorted.

"Actually," Jason corrected. "Our escape plan was in the process of working—"

"I don't mean to interrupt your guys' little reunion, or anything, but where's Annabeth?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, I thought she'd be with you guys," Piper agreed.

"Well, it's a long story," Hazel wrung out her hands nervously. "We got separated. And, you know how those lines from the prophecy say that a daughter of Athena walks along? So, we figured, it's best that she be allowed to do whatever she needs to do—and do it, alone."

"So you guys just left her there?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Percy," Frank explained. "We didn't want to, either, but there wasn't really much we could do. She was already gone. We had an idea of where you guys were, but we had no clue about where she'd be, and we thought it'd be best to get you guys first, especially since the prophecy says she has to do something special on her own."

Percy didn't look too thrilled but he relented. "Fine—I still don't like it, but if Annabeth were here, she'd probably yell at me and say something about finding Nico. Anyone have an idea of where he is?"

"Here," Hazel replied confidently. "He's here. When we were sneaking around, we heard some demigods from Gaea's side saying something about a kid of Hades who was being really annoying, and tried to kill them every time they went into his room."

"Yep," Percy smiled. "Sounds like Nico."

"Great," Jason said. "Did they say anything else—like, I don't know, where they're keeping him?"

Hazel shook her head.

"Well," Piper said. "At least it's a start, right? I mean, how big can this place be?"

Frank laughed. "Pretty big, actually. We've been wandering around here for hours, probably."

Something rumbled. Leo blushed. "Ah, sorry," he said. "They wouldn't let me get food. They're really mean."

Piper rolled her eyes and shoved him playfully.

"Anyway," Frank continued. "As I was saying earlier, it actually is pretty big. We're on a street coming off of the Forum. The building is old, I mean not as old as Gaea or whatever, but you get what I mean. So, it's old and it's big, and other than the fact that he's here, we know nothing about his exact location."

"Well, if it took you guys a few hours to find us, if we split up—" Piper started.

"How about we don't split up?" Percy said.

"It'll save time, though," Jason reasoned.

"But we might get outnumbered—" Frank said.

"Hey," Hazel interrupted, trying to control her voice from being too loud. "First, let's find somewhere farther away from here. Those guards aren't going to stay unconscious very long, I'm afraid, and I'm sure there are plenty more enemy demigods and monsters wandering around this place."

"Fine," Jason muttered. Everyone else agreed, and the group set off.

Jason, who was first in the little group, had to knock out a couple of patrolling demigods, and once, Percy had to stab an empousa in the gut that had sneaked up on them unnoticed.

They ducked through hallways, flattened themselves against walls as enemies patrolled by, and tried to make their footsteps as quiet as possible. They didn't want a fight until they had Nico and Annabeth back, and knew they were safe and the enemy couldn't use them as hostages.

Several times, Leo started to crack a joke, or make a completely random comment, and the group could hear Leo's hushed cry of pain as Piper, or whoever was closest at the time, punched him lightly or stepped on one of his feet.

The seven of the prophecy, or at least six of the seven, were working together competently, and Jason now had an inkling of why they were chosen to be part of this quest.

Even though they might not be the most powerful seven demigods of their generation, they definitely had a wide range of talents, skills, backgrounds, godly parents, and fighting techniques.

Overall, they could work together when needed, and they sure were doing exactly that now.

"Trenton's coming," Piper hissed. "Go—there, that room on your left, Jason!"

Jason ducked into the room Piper had been referring to, and the other five demigods followed suit.

They were all breathing heavily, and Piper was peering out of the crack underneath the door.

"Do you see anything?" Jason asked.

"More like anyone," Leo said, "Is that the guy who kidnapped you? He's, like, our age. Really, guys?"  
"They're still there. Both of you—shut up!" Piper whispered harshly.

Leo grinned, happy that he'd annoyed her like always. He needed to stop that, or his corny jokes at inappropriate times would get them all killed, eventually.

Jason couldn't help but feel, once again, that Piper was treating him coldly, and he understood that it was probably about Reyna, but she should put that behind her. It was confusing him too much, which wasn't helpful, given the war and the prophecy and everything else that was going on.

Then again, if what Aphrodite had told him earlier was true, which it probably was, then Piper was probably experiencing the exact same confusion he was, if not even more, so he couldn't really blame her.

As he thought about it more and more, he actually felt worse. It was his fault. Piper wasn't to blame, neither was Reyna or Aphrodite, or the gods, or anyone else he'd tried to push the blame onto.

Jason Grace didn't like making mistakes. He often did; it was natural. Even if he was a leader, he definitely wasn't perfect, despite trying to be sometimes, and mistakes were common. That didn't mean he had to like making them, though.

He took a deep breath in. After this quest was over, and the prophecy, when they were back on the ship, he'd make it right again. He'd sort out his stupidly complex and confusing feelings and figure it out, for the sake of his sanity, at least, and talk to Piper, so they could stop being so awkward around each other, and become friends at the very least.

He didn't know if things would progress any further. He had false and real memories with Piper, as well as many real memories with Reyna that had been taken away and given back. He deemed it unfair to make a decision when his memories of Reyna were still a tad fuzzy, and when he hadn't been able to spend time with her since he went missing, while he'd been spending six months with Piper, in addition to the time during this war and quest.

He figured the best thing was to probably just stay friends with both of them, at least until the war with Gaea and the giants was completely over.

Maybe then, he would be able to figure things out.

"They're moving down the hallway," Percy announced. "Should we just stay here and think of a plan for finding Nico, or continue on?"

"Since when do you use plans?" Frank asked.

"I've used plans in the previous war," Percy admitted. "So, what do you guys want to do? Stay or go?"

The rest of the group agreed to stay, even Hazel.

When Leo asked about that, she explained, "I want to find him, yes. I'm not going to go into detail about this, but he's done a lot for me—more than I can ever repay him for, really. That's why I've been so intent on saving him. On top of all of that, he's my brother, even though I'll just ignore the fact that he's technically only my kind of half-brother. I do owe it to him to rescue him, and I do really want to save him because he's my brother, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do anything stupid. We need a plan—storming in there randomly and trying to fight every enemy in this building isn't going to help, and it'll probably just end up with the rest of us getting captured as well. Unlike Percy, I like formulating plans more for the sake of just having them as a backup."

Hazel usually didn't give speeches or anything, but even though she was only thirteen, she'd been though a lot, as far as Jason knew, being a daughter of Pluto, and what she had to say was definitely important for the rest of the group to hear.

Jason smiled and clapped her on the back lightly. "You're right, Hazel. We do need a plan. But don't worry, though, we're going to get him out of here safe and sound in no time. I don't know what he did for you, but it must be important."

She smiled gratefully at the son of Jupiter, and looked to the floor.

Jason grinned even wider when he saw Hazel smile at Frank as he took her hand and squeezed it gently.

Leo made a quiet throat-clearing noise, and Piper glared at him for being too loud.

He held his hands up in apology before speaking. "Listen, I don't mean to ruin the moment or anything, but, uh, shouldn't we make that plan we've been talking about?"

"Yeah, good idea, Repair Boy," Percy said.

"Oh, not you, too," Leo complained.

Percy grinned in reply.

After much hushed debating about whether they should split up, and if they should attack using Roman or Greek style or both, and which route they should take, the group had eventually formed a plan.

They were so busy discussing battle tactics that they didn't even hear the footsteps approaching the door from the outside. The door swung open, and the six spun around to see who it was, shocked at being so careless and letting someone find them unnoticed.

A lone demigod stood in the doorway.

* * *

The six demigods pulled out their weapons and braced themselves for more enemies to pour in and attack.

"No, no," the demigod said. "I'm not here to attack. I'm on your side, promise."

Jason recognized him as the small black-haired kid that'd been part of the group that had attacked and captured him. The guy had always looked a little nervous, as if he didn't want to be part of that attack and kidnapping. He was still wary, though.

Percy seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "How are we supposed to know that? You were one of the people who attacked us back by that river."

The kid fidgeted. "I was. I didn't like it. I didn't even know I was a demigod for the longest time. I thought I was just a freak-and people thought I only had an overactive imagination when I told them about the monsters. My godly parent never saw me or made any effort to tell me about who I was. I'm a son of Apollo, though I don't look like one. I felt bitter toward my father, naturally, when Trenton found me and told me about this... world, I guess. I was claimed shortly after. He told me about this side, Gaea's side, and how it is so amazing, and you guys are just silly little teenagers who don't know what they're doing. One day, as he was bringing me here, we got separated. I met a satyr. He tried to convince me to go to camp. Trenton found me and tried to kill the satyr, but luckily he ran off. The satyr had convinced me, though, to join your side, but I didn't know where your camp was. I figured I'd just go along with Trenton and sabotage their plans and try to help you guys. He's so strong, though, they're all so strong; I haven't had much of a chance to do much, since they don't really let me."

Hazel smiled, believing him. Jason did too, and it looked like the others were having similar thoughts. "What's your name?" the daughter of Hades asked kindly.

"James."

"You can come with us, you know," Piper said.

"No," he shook his head adamantly. "You guys will need someone on the inside. Can I do that?"

Jason trusted the guy a little, but not enough to let him in on all their plans, so he agreed. "That's fine. Is there anything else you wanted to tell us? And how did you find us?

James smiled. "You guys might want to be a little quieter from now on. You were pretty easy to find.

Heat rushed to Jason's cheeks, but he tried to brush it off. "So, is there anything else...?"

"I know you're looking for your friend. They haven't told me exactly where he is. All I know is that he is alive, he's here, and they're planning on keeping him alive to bait you guys back and capture you again," James said.

"Well, we're not going to let that happen," Piper said confidently. "Right, guys?"

The rest nodded in agreement.

"And... one last thing," James said, after saying goodbye and starting to head back out the door. "About your other friend-Annabeth, I think-she's on her way here."

* * *

**Please review! **

**-smileyface9 :)**

**[Edited 3/31/13]**


	28. Annabeth XXVIII

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, HOO, The Mark of Athena, the PJO characters, and I don't own the HOO characters either. Rick Riordan owns all of that, not me.**

* * *

Chapter 28

ANNABETH

* * *

Annabeth cursed silently. She knew it would be inevitable—the prophecy straight out told them all that she'd have to do _something_ alone, whatever that something may be.

That was the problem, though. She didn't know what she was supposed to do. The Mark of Athena? She'd never heard of it, which was surprising, considering she'd at least skimmed every book she could get her hands on at camp.

Maybe it was a test for her. As a daughter of Athena, she craved knowledge, and she had to know things. It almost pained her to have a missing puzzle piece, or something she didn't know, and these two lines of the prophecy were pretty important and she knew nothing. Athena could be testing her—heck, maybe the Fates were testing her, to see how she'd to on a blind mission, one where she started out clueless.

If that were the case, then Annabeth would be seriously pissed off. It was bad enough that they had one war, and two was practically unthinkable, and now a special little (unknown, but probably still as dangerous) task just for her? Fabulous.

_Wisdom's Daughter walks alone, The Mark of Athena burns through Rome._

Annabeth was determined to dissect the prophecy lines into little pieces until she understood what she meant. Everyone at camp always told her not to dwell on prophecies, but Annabeth was planning on throwing that rule out the window.

If they were alone in an ancient foreign city with hostile monster enemies and giants, with a backpack, a map, and two prophecy lines, she was pretty sure they'd do exactly the same.

The first line was as obvious as it could get, unless it had a significant deeper meaning underneath, but Annabeth doubted that was it.

She was a daughter of wisdom, and she was alone. Check.

Next line—The Mark of Athena. Children of Athena didn't have any showy powers, like turning into owls, no matter how convinced Percy was that she could morph into them at will.

Her only powers were intellectual ones—quick wit, fast thought process, and overanalyzing mind that noticed details (usually), battle strategies, a cool head during fights and many other life-threatening situations, etc.

That was broad, though, and she didn't see how that could be a Mark of Athena if her siblings had the same abilities, and none of them had ever gone on crazy quests in Europe (or at least if they had, they hadn't mentioned it to her).

Burning through Rome didn't sound too good, and definitely wasn't on the top ten of her to-do list, and all Annabeth could do was hope that didn't mean she had the power to spontaneously combust and torch a city.

Shooting fire would be fun, though. That is, if she could control it. Though she also doubted that's what the prophecy meant.

She could only assume (and hope) that it was on a more metaphorical or symbolical level, so she might beat up some giants, blow up monsters, leave her mark, and have that qualify as "burning through Rome."  
Even that was a bit of a stretch, though.

She didn't even know where to start. Wonderful.

Even having just Percy with her would've been better—maybe his ridiculously crazy and dangerous and flat-out stupid ideas could have gotten them _somewhere_.

After the bus was gone, Annabeth double-checked the bus schedule sign, to see if there was another one coming soon, so maybe she could catch up with her friends.

No such luck.

Then again, when had luck ever really been on her side?

She pulled out the huge foldable map from her pack again, figuring that was her best bet now.

She scanned it, hoping to find a temple, statue, building, or anything really, that had to do with Minerva, the Roman form of Athena.

Her stormy grey eyes lit up as her finger fell upon a small Roman plaza—Piazza Della Minerva. It may not be much of a lead, or a huge connection to her mother, but it was all she had, and right now, that had to be good enough.

Internally rejoicing at her small dose of luck, Annabeth realized that she was, in fact, less than a dozen blocks away from her destination.

Knowing that no buses would be coming soon, she set off walking, glad for the opportunity to marvel at the Roman architecture.

Even if she was on a life-threatening quest, that didn't mean she couldn't have fun, right?

As Annabeth got caught up in the swarm of tourists and rushing natives, she stared in awe at the buildings around her. Every once in a while, she'd get so entranced in the gorgeous city that she'd stop dead in the street, just turning around and taking it all in, until someone shoved past her, jarring her back into reality.

Though many expected her to hate Rome, since she was a Greek demigod, Annabeth harbored no dislike for it. In fact, the city awed her with its breathtaking mixture of architecture from many eras—the Renaissance, the Baroque, Medieval, Fascist, Modern, and so many more varying architecture styles.

It differed from the columns and Greek pillars she'd witnessed at Mount Olympus, and she couldn't keep her eyes off the buildings, her eyes flitting across the more structurally sound stores, to small, quaint pastel stores on quieter cobbled streets.

She marveled at the detail of some of the more important buildings, and nearly forgot where she was heading—the Piazza Della Minerva.

Annabeth internally cursed herself for getting too distracted. While gawking at the sights around her, she'd taken a couple of wrong turns, and reached a dead end.

She was about to open up her map, when a sudden noise caused her to glance up; her bronze knife whipped out in a flash.

A movement in the shadows to her right was all Annabeth had to go by as she lunged for whatever was there.

In the best-case scenario, it'd be a mortal, and the blade would pass right through, which would make her biggest problem explaining to the mortal what it was and why she had attacked.

Then again, for demigods, the best-case scenarios were more like impossible dreams.

The luminous eyes of unfriendly hellhound peered at Annabeth from the shadows of the alley.

She'd missed.

Annabeth lunged again, and her blade struck true, but she noticed several more pairs of eyes from all around her. Cursing under her breath, Annabeth realized that in no way she'd be able to fight them all.

Though, as a demigod, her first instinct was to stay and fight, sometimes she had to take the 'flight' option, which, in this situation, was the only choice that wouldn't get her killed.

She sprinted down the alley as fast as she could, not even giving the hellhounds enough time to lope after her.

She ran, hard, as fast as she could, ducking into side streets, and weaved in and out of people who were giving her confused looks.

She didn't stop until her side started cramping, and her throat became dry.

Annabeth fished some currency she'd exchanged earlier out of her bag, and bought a bottle of water, gulping it down quickly.

She once again pulled out her map, and groaned when she realized that she'd run in the opposite direction from the Piazza Della Minerva. It was near the Pantheon, which was now a good few miles from her current location.

"Hello," someone near her hissed. "Do you need some help?"

Annabeth's head snapped up, and she gripped her knife, ready to use it if it was a monster.

Just her luck; it was.

Annabeth yanked out her dagger and was about to stab the monster, when the empousa disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a scorch mark to show that she'd ever been there.

Annabeth hadn't even seen the fire start, if fire had actually been the source of the monster's disappearance.

"What the…?" she muttered, spinning around and looking for any signs of more monsters. The mortals obviously hadn't seen anything and were acting normal, as usual.

Just when Annabeth had dismissed the event as a hallucination from lack of sleep, or at least something that wouldn't be receiving any sort of explanation anytime soon, a fire started at spot where the monster had disintegrated earlier. It didn't stop there either; the flame spread down the street, with steady stream of smoke billowing into the air.

The mortals still didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

_The Mark of Athena burns through Rome._

The prophecy line echoed through her head. It had to be that, right? The Mark of Athena; maybe it was some sort of sign from her mother.

Or, at the very least, it wouldn't hurt to follow the flame trail. She waved her hand a few feet in front of the fire. It wasn't hot, so she assumed the fire was some sort of illusion.

Figuring that if she ran into a trap, she'd be prepared and try to fight her way out.

She followed the trail of flames through twists and turns, and after a suspicion formed in her out, she unfolded the map again, which mad moved from her bag to her pocket due to its usefulness.

She pinpointed the location where she'd run off to after the encounter with the hellhound. Then, she found where the Piazza Della Minerva was, the tiny dot next to the larger one labeled the Pantheon.

She pulled a pencil out of her pack pocket and traced the shortest route between the two. Annabeth glanced up at the nearest street sign and located her position on the map. She smiled; the intersection of roads she was at was right on the shortest path between where she'd been before and the Piazza Della Minerva, which would hopefully be where her friends were.

A few minutes later, Annabeth looked around nervously as she continued to follow to path of flame. She felt like something, or rather, someone, was watching her. She whipped her head around, some blond curls slapping her face.

Nothing. She still couldn't shake the feeling, though, that she was being watched.

Finally as she turned a corner, only about a block away from her destination, a panting teenager came running up to her.

"Help," he said, in a heavy Italian accent. "Do—do you see them too? Those…monsters? The nightmares? Do you see th—that?" A shaking hand gestured to the flames that had been guiding Annabeth.

Annabeth wasn't sure what to believe. He could simply be a mortal with sight, a demigod, or even a monster on their enemy's side.

She decided to give him a chance, though, just in case he was a confused demigod.

"Yeah," she said cautiously. "The monsters. Do they attack you too? Have you always been able to see them?"

He nodded vigorously. "They attack much. I don't remember a time when I couldn't see them. They are always, always following me, so I run a lot."

Annabeth let out a small smile. "Well… me too. I'm going to find some friends. I'm afraid I got a little lost. Don't worry; the fire isn't real. It's helping me find my friends again. If you want, you can come with me, and we can try to help you. The monsters attack us too."

He nodded again.

"Come on," Annabeth gestured for him to follow her. "They're close by, I think. What's your name?"

"Giove," he replied quietly.

There was something odd about his name that nagged at the back of Annabeth's mind, but when she couldn't think of why, she dismissed it and decided that she could think about that later.

Annabeth carefully walked some distance away from him, just in case he turned out to be unfriendly. When they finally arrived at the Piazza without any more incidents, Annabeth let out a sigh of relief.

The flame ended right outside the door of a building off the Piazza Della Minerva. Annabeth put her hand on the door handle and motioned for Giove to stay behind her. As she carefully opened it, the hinges let out a creak, causing Annabeth to wince.

As soon as she opened it about a foot and stuck her head in, she found a familiar sword pointed at her throat.

It was lowered immediately, and whoever it was gave Annabeth a bone-crushing hug.

Annabeth was about to start beating up the hugger, before she realized who it was.

"Thank the gods, Seaweed Brain," she grinned. She pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed him, not caring if there were monsters around or that people might be watching.

A few seconds later, she heard an awkward cough. Annabeth blushed and pulled away from Percy, greeting the rest of her friends behind him.

"Who's this?" Jason raised an eyebrow, pointing to Giove.

"Giove. I met him, like, five minutes ago. I think he's a demigod."

"Giove?" Jaosn asked. "But…doesn't—"

An almost blinding light cut off the rest of Jason's sentence. One second, Giove was standing there, and the next, he was gone, replaced by a tall immortal glaring intimidatingly down at the demigods.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Can any of you guess who it is? It's possible to figure out, so if anyone does, please tell me in a review or in a PM.**

**This chapter was by far the hardest for me to write, as I had not planned out what I was going to do here at all. That's why it took almost a month. Sorry if you were waiting a while for this chapter. I had a huge bout of writer's block.**

**Thanks for reading, and please review! :)  
Guest Replies:**

**Greek freak: (I think both are from the same person, but if you're two different people, sorry, but they're both going here.) Thank you so much for your review. As for your comments about Percy's water powers, I can't give anything away, but you should find out about that relatively soon. The prophecy is mine (Rick's is way better), and thank you again for all the kind things you said. That definitely made my day! :) I will absolutely take what you said into consideration, and I'm sorry you had to wait so long for the update. I'm glad you like the story so much, and thanks, once again! :)**

**Penguinas: I will definitely take what you said into account. There's some Percabeth in this chapter, even. Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I hope you like it! **

**-smileyface9 :)**


	29. Hazel XXIX

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns PJO, HOO, the PJO characters, the HOO characters, and the Mark of Athena. I do not.  
****Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 29

HAZEL

* * *

Hazel dropped to her knees, and she knew Jason and Frank were doing the same.

"This is an honor, Lord Jupiter," Jason said hesitantly, then added, "father" as an afterthought.

"Praetor Grace," Jupiter nodded. "It has been a long time. You keep… interesting company. Now, rise. This is not a time for such formalities. Though, it appears your Greek friends did not feel it necessary to kneel."

Hazel smothered a smile as she rose and saw Percy rolling his eyes at the Roman god.

"It appears… you need help," Jupiter said stiffly.

"No offense meant, Lord Jupiter, but don't you have a policy to refrain from involving in demigods' quests? In your Greek form, you don't like to… associate with demigods much," Annabeth said, seemingly undaunted by the powerful god.

"Ah," the god smiled humorlessly. "The daughter of Athena. Though I am not my Greek form, it is true. There are interference rules that I like to comply to about your mortal quests, and usually, I pride myself on following them."

"Like you all kept your 'no kids' pact," Percy muttered.

Jupiter eyed the son of Poseidon, but didn't say anything, so Hazel assumed that he hadn't heard what Percy had said.

"However," Jupiter continued regally, "We are in a time of war. There is no denying it anymore. The real fight with Gaea will start soon, and certain rules must be… ignored."

"Why did you come, though?" Percy asked. "Don't you usually send others to do your dirty work?"

"I will choose to ignore that comment, son of Poseidon, as I did with your first one, but I am warning you: watch your tongue. I won't hesitate to incinerate you, no matter who your father is," Jupiter said threateningly. "About your young friend, Nico—yes, I believe that's his name—anyway, you'll need him in that fight. I cannot aid you directly in that battle, but he is on this floor. One last thing, though, is that you should be aware of your powers. Good luck."

The demigods turned away and closed their eyes instinctively as the king of the gods flashed out.

"Be aware of your powers," Percy muttered. "Wonderful. They're really helpful, aren't they?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop complaining, Seaweed Brain. You should just be thankful that he didn't incinerate you on the spot. And he told us where they're holding Nico."

"Yeah, but how's one kid supposed to help at all?" Jason asked.

Percy, Hazel, and Annabeth all glared at him, effectively shutting him up.

"This floor, right? How hard will it be?" Leo asked.

"If you haven't noticed," Piper added in, "this place is huge. Annabeth, how did you find Jupiter anyway?"

"I ran into him about five minutes before I got here. He said that he could see the monsters, and that they attack him a lot, so I assumed he was a demigod. He introduced himself as Giove, which, now that I think about it, means—"

"Jupiter in Italian," Jason supplied. "That's what I was about to say before he turned back into the godly form."

"Yeah, I felt there was something off about him, but I didn't expect him to be a god, and definitely Jupiter, out of all the gods he could've been," Annabeth admitted.

"Wow, you didn't know something?" Leo asked, seemingly astonished.

"Oh, shut up." Annabeth glared at the son of Hephaestus.

"We should, uh, go find Nico now…" Hazel supplied.

"Right!" Leo said brightly. "Stop stalling, Annabeth."

Jason laughed as Annabeth glared at Leo. "You'd better watch out, Leo. Now, she looks downright murderous."

Leo laughed nervously. "Well, I'll lead then. Annabeth, you can take the rear."

"Absolutely not," Annabeth retorted. "Who gave you the idea that you should lead? I think Hazel should, just in case we go underground, and since she might be able to find Nico better. You know, since they're, uh, kind of half-siblings."

"We just like to leave out the part where his dad is Greek, and mine is Roman," Hazel said. "It gets much too confusing. Usually, we just leave it at half-siblings."

"Okay," Annabeth agreed. "Well, lead the way, then."

Hazel nervously stepped to the front, extremely aware of Frank's lifeline in her jacket pocket. She pulled the jacket tighter around her frame, as if that could somehow protect the small stick of wood more.

Nico's skull ring had just a drop of silver, but Hazel had learned to recognize it specifically after Nico went missing.

She felt it. It was very faint, since the ring wasn't large, but it was still there, in the building. Luckily, whoever captured him probably hadn't thought to take it off of him.

"That way," Hazel informed the rest as she pointed to the right. She started speed walking over, pausing every so often to check for monsters and to make sure she was still going in the right direction.

It was a painfully slow process, especially with the fact that Nico might already be dead, or that they could kill him at any moment weighing down on her mind.

"And we turn here," she muttered to herself, peering around the corner to check for monsters. She motioned the rest of the demigods to come forward when she found the hallway deserted.

Frank had offered a couple times to take the lead and check for monsters, while she just told him where to go. She'd refused. She knew he was trying to protect her, but she could fight on her own. All the same, he kept pace and stuck right behind her like a burr.

"Almost there," she whispered loudly, so the others could here. "And another turn here." Finding the hallway once again clear, she ventured into it with Frank on her heels.

"This is strange," she heard Annabeth murmur from somewhere behind Frank.

"Yeah," came Percy's whispered agreement. "There should have been monsters and demigods all over the place. It shouldn't be so… easy. I mean, I'm fine with easy, but that _never_ happens."

"Hm," Annabeth said. "That just means that they want us to find Nico. They're leaving the path clear. They don't want any monster or demigod casualties right now."

"Maybe they're planning some huge attack for later," Percy added helpfully.

"That's an optimistic though, but yeah, probably," Annabeth replied grimly.

Hazel refocused her undivided attention on the path to Nico. They were almost there; they only had one last hallway. She poked her head around the corner to check for monsters and retreated hastily. Frank stepped in front of her to check it out and make sure the monsters didn't come around the corner and attack while she addressed the rest.

"So, I guess they have some security," Annabeth muttered. "Wouldn't want it to be too easy, now would they?"

Hazel and some others cracked a smile, and Frank continued to play the watch guard.

"So, Nico is in a room in this hallway. There aren't even that many monsters, though. Well, I guess it would be a lot for one person, but we have seven. I saw… maybe six guards? It's six, right, Frank?"

"Yeah," he whispered back. "Five guarding the door, and one is just patrolling the hallway—shh!"

They all stopped talking and flattened themselves to the wall, letting the shadows cover them. The guard monster, a dracanae, briefly came into view before deeming there to be no enemies, and turning around and heading back.

"Yeah, that's the sixth," Frank said after a few deadly silent seconds.

"So, one for each of us, and the last person gets to break Nico out," Percy concluded.

Annabeth nodded. "Hazel, do you want to get him out? Or, if you'd rather fight, I'm sure Piper's charmspeak could do the trick."

"No, it's okay. Piper can fight. I'll get him out of there," Hazel said.

"You should go to the back, then. We'll distract and fight the guards, while you get Nico, just in case they set off an alarm, which will mean we need to do this fast. If there are more guards in there, start fighting, yell out how many there are, and some of us will come in to help. Got it?" Annabeth asked.

Hazel and the rest nodded in agreement.

"Against the wall!" Annabeth whispered urgently, as the dracanae stepped in and out of view again. She'd taken the lead, and Frank had come in front of Hazel.

"Okay," Annabeth whispered, once the monster was gone again. "Go!"

Hazel followed the rest of the demigods as they stormed out. The fight wasn't too hard, and as she kicked open the door to the room, she saw Percy turn his monster to dust.

Luckily for her, there were no guards in Nico's jail room.

She saw him slumped over unconscious in a corner, and her eyes started to burn and sting uncomfortably. As more tears started to prick at her eyes, Hazel carefully made her way over to Nico. She heard the sounds of a couple more monsters being turned to dust.

Nico wasn't chained or anything, which just reestablished Annabeth and Percy's theory from earlier that this escape was way too easy. They'd encountered six monsters on their way to freeing Nico, and she knew that they'd all expected there to be more.

Nico didn't seem to be hurt either. She shook him lightly, hoping that he'd wake up, but their luck had run dry.  
She tried to pick him up, which didn't work, considering he was both taller and heavier than her. Percy, who she hadn't even seen enter the room, helped her get Nico to his feet.

"When did you get here?" Hazel murmured.

"After I killed my designated monster, I helped out the others a little, and it seemed like they'd be fine, so I figured you'd probably need some help."  
Hazel nodded. "Thanks."

Percy grinned. "No problem. This idiot is like a little brother to me sometimes, but don't tell him I said that."

Hazel laughed, and she noticed Annabeth and Frank standing in the doorway as well. When she and Percy walked into the hallway with Nico between them, she noticed Leo standing guard, and it looked like Jason and Piper had just finished off the last monster.

"A couple more monsters came from over there," Percy explained. "That's what I was helping out with."

Hazel nodded, biting her lip. Nico was heavy, even with Percy bearing some weight.

"Here, I'll help," Annabeth offered, noticing Hazel's discomfort.

"Thanks." Hazel smiled gratefully as Annabeth supported the rest of Nico's weight with Percy.

"Well, we can't exactly fight with him unconscious," Annabeth said. "They might take him again, since he'd have to stay behind if we attacked."

"So… we just wait until he comes to?" Piper asked.

Annabeth nodded. "I don't see any injuries, so hopefully he'll wake up soon."

The seven demigods, with an unconscious Nico in tow, slowly made their way to a room where they could stay until Nico woke up.

Hazel's relief couldn't really be expressed in words. All this time, she'd been thinking the worst. _What if he's dead? What if they've recruited him to the enemies' side? What if they don't even have him and he's just missing? What if he got lost? What if he's stuck in the Underworld?_

All the 'what ifs' hadn't really helped. But, now, they'd found him, and even though he was unconscious, he was alive and seemed to be unhurt.

The relief comforted her like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. He was all right, and that was all that mattered to Hazel at the moment.

Frank, seeing how happy she was, smiled and patted her shoulder awkwardly. She grinned back at him as they entered another room.

Annabeth and Percy set Nico down gently in a corner, making sure he was in a comfortable position.

Annabeth then handed Hazel a flask of nectar from her back, some of which she drizzled into Nico's mouth before smiling gratefully (again) at Annabeth and handing her the nectar.

The demigods sat down and got comfortable, waiting for Nico to wake up. Hazel, who sat the closest to the unconscious son of Hades, glanced at him every so often to check if he was awake yet.

"So, Annabeth," Jason said, breaking the silence. "What did you do when you were on your own?"

"Well," Annabeth said. "I started heading towards the Piazza Della Minerva, since it seemed to be a place connected to my mother, if only distantly. I figured you guys would be somewhere around, which was true. Anyway, after a couple of detours, I got here. I followed trail of fire here, which I think was from my mother, and killed some monsters. I met Giove right before I got here, and that's it. _Wisdom's daughter walks alone._ Check._ The Mark of Athena burns through Rome_. Check. So, my part of the prophecy is done, I think."

"No offense," Jason said, "But nothing really important seemed to happen. Why was that necessary? I mean, if you hadn't gotten separated, then there would've been no flaming Mark of Athena, and everything would've turned out the same."

"Except for Giove," Frank added. "Or Jupiter. Whatever you want to call him."

Jason shrugged. "He probably would've found us anyway. He caught up with Annabeth a block away, right? So, he probably knew where she was heading, which means he knew where we were, so he could've just come straight to us."

"So, why did he go to Annabeth instead of coming straight here, then?" Percy countered.

Jason was about to retaliate when Annabeth interrupted. "Look, I don't know why it was important either, and there is no point in wondering what might have and would have happened had I not been separated from Hazel, Leo, and Frank. But it happened, it fits and fulfills part of the prophecy, and nothing bad happened, so let's just leave it at that, shall we?"

Leo snorted in laughter. "Shall we?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh, grow up, Leo," she snapped.

The son of Hephaestus just grinned in reply.

Hazel heard a groan from the corner of the room and turned around to check on her half-brother.

"Hazel?" Nico asked. "Oh, thank the gods."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! A special thanks to everyone who was reviewed, followed, or marked this story as a favorite! It means a lot to me! :)  
Please review!**

**Also, if anyone's interested, I've edited the beginning of Chapter 3. I've noticed some mistakes and less than satisfactory writing in the first few chapters, so I'll be going back and fixing them.**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	30. Piper XXX

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns PJO, HOO, the PJO characters, the HOO characters, and the Mark of Athena. I do not.  
****Enjoy!**

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Chapter 30

PIPER

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When Piper had seen Nico at Camp Half-Blood (and that hadn't been many times,) he'd seemed moody and quiet, a little dark, like someone who preferred not to be around people… so basically, like a stereotypical son of Hades.

He looked completely different now. First, he was _happy_. There was a full-blown smile on his face as Hazel gave him a hug.

But more than that, he looked relieved, as if he'd been trying to convince himself that he'd be rescued, but had still doubted it at the same time.

From the surprised (but also happy) looks on Annabeth and Percy's faces, they were thinking around the same thing as her.

Though he seemed fine with letting Hazel hug him at first, Nico looked like he was getting a little uncomfortable.

"Uh…Hazel? Yeah, I think you can let go now," Percy suggested.

Hazel obliged, grinning.

Nico seemed to morph back into his old self as he became a little more closed off.

"How did you get lost?" Hazel demanded, her previous cheerful demeanor evaporating.

Nico shrugged, making vague hand gestures. "Oh… I was just looking, and when I—"

"Looking_ where_, exactly?" the daughter of Pluto questioned.

"Well not in a certain place, just looking," Nico said.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "What were you looking for, then?"

"Nothing," Nico dismissed her question.

"You're a bad liar," Leo piped up.

Nico shot him a glare. "I wasn't looking for anything!"

"Nico," Annabeth sighed.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I went looking for the Doors of Death, okay?"

"On your own?" Annabeth asked. "Why? You could have told us; we would've helped you!"

"Yeah, and I wasn't supposed to know about it in the first place. If I told you guys, someone would be bound to slip up and tell," Nico argued.

"Not necessarily," Annabeth countered. "If you had told only a few of us, then we—"

"But I didn't, and I can't change that." Nico said.

Annabeth huffed and leaned against Percy.

"Did you guys get a prophecy?" Nico asked.

Heads nodded in reply.

"Did you figure it all out yet?" he asked.

"Not all of it," Annabeth answered. There are two lines we haven't figured out yet: _Hapless encounters and secrets untold leave the fate of the world to unfold._

"That sounds cheerful," Nico muttered. "Do you have any idea what it means?"

"Well, we all have secrets," Annabeth said. "But I don't see how that could affect anything drastically, unless someone has a really huge secret."

The only secret Piper had was her charmspeak, and they all knew about that. They also knew about Hazel's power over precious metals, Frank's shape shifting, and Leo's fire abilities.

She looked around. Annabeth, as calm as ever, was leaning against Percy and watching the rest. Percy looked agitated, but it didn't seem like he'd been listening to the conversation. Ever since he'd come back from "seeing" Gaea, he'd been acting nervous and edgy.

Leo was fidgeting, but that was nothing unusual. Jason, like Piper, was gauging the others' reactions.

Frank and Hazel weren't making eye contact with anyone, so they probably had something to hide. It wasn't really any of Piper's business, but…

"Hazel? Frank?" she asked. "You guys okay?"

They both jumped. "Yeah, fine," said Hazel, smiling (though it definitely looked forced). Frank just muttered something under his breath.

"You know you can tell us anything, right?" Piper prompted, hoping that they'd just tell her whatever they were hiding.

"Uh-huh," Hazel said. "But there's nothing wrong, really."

Piper cocked her head. "I never said there was."

Hazel squirmed and shifted positions, but she didn't say any more.

A loud grumbling noise reached Piper's ears. She whirled around to see where it had come from.

Nico smiled sheepishly. "I'm a little hungry… you know, they didn't really give me much food in there."

"Sorry, Nico," Annabeth muttered. She fished around in her backpack for a few seconds, before finding what she was looking for and tossing it to him.

"Thanks," Nico said, tearing off the wrapper of the granola bar and eating it quickly. He shoved the wrapper into his pocket when he was done.

"Seriously?" Piper asked. "You just carry around granola bars."

Annabeth grinned. "You never know how long you'll go without food on a quest. I like to be prepared."

"What else do you _have_ in there?" Hazel asked cautiously.

Annabeth shrugged. "A lot."

Percy reached behind her and picked up her bag, bringing it into his lap. "But it's so light…" he trailed off. "Hecate cabin?"

Annabeth nodded. "They did it for me right after you left, when I was just looking around outside camp for you…" she trailed off, clearing her throat uncomfortably.

"So, um, Jason and Piper know this, but I don't think I've had the chance to tell the rest of you," Percy said, breaking the silence. "When they, you know, the enemy demigods, captured us, Trenton, their leader person, sort of, took me out of the prison place for a while. I saw part of Gaea's essence, or whatever. Trust me, I would've attacked her if I could've. Anyway, she did something. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but when I tried, I couldn't control my powers. You know, my water powers."

"What do you mean, you couldn't control them? As in, they just went crazy, or you couldn't do anything?" Jason asked.

"As in, nothing. I could control water just as well as you can," Percy said.

"Are you sure?" Jason persisted. "It could be that maybe you were just too tired to do anything. We'd been through a lot."

"Yeah, but I've always been able to do a lot more on a lot less energy. Plus, there was no tug in my stomach. The water didn't even move, not a drop of it, even. Here, I'll show you. Annabeth?"

Annabeth, who had stayed rather quiet throughout Percy's speech, seemed to understand what he was asking for and pulled out a half-filled water bottle from her backpack. "Don't use it all, though," Annabeth warned. "We'll probably need it."

"I doubt I'll end up using any of it," Percy said, sighing.

He placed it on the floor in front of him. With his forehead creased and eyebrows drawn together, Percy closed his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Frank asked cautiously.

Percy let out a breath that he'd apparently been holding and opened his eyes again. "See? It didn't even _move_. I probably could do more when I was five years old."

Piper slumped back against the wall. Percy… he was definitely one of the most powerful demigods on their side, and if Gaea could manage to take away his powers, she could do it to the rest of them as well. The main fight hadn't even begun yet, and she was already crippling their side.

Percy handed the water bottle back to Annabeth soundlessly.

"Can you still, uh, fight with your sword?" Leo asked.

"No, Leo. Gaea also took away my ability to pick up a sword and swing it properly, and my reflexes, too," he said.

"Don't worry, I don't think she took your sarcasm," Leo muttered.

Percy rolled his eyes. "But it's fine, really. It doesn't really affect me, or any of the rest of us, much." It was obvious that he was freaked out about it, but trying to play it down.

Annabeth grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Piper smiled at the display.

The daughter of Athena's eyebrows had drawn together, like she was thinking very hard about something.

"Annabeth? Do you know anything about it?" Piper asked.

She seemed startled by the question. She shifted away from Percy, so she was no longer leaning against him.

"No."

"Annabeth," Percy sighed. "That was like the most suspicious 'no' ever."

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously. I don't know anything about Gaea taking away your powers."

"But, you know something related to it, don't you? You were acting strange even earlier, back at camp," Percy pointed out.

She huffed. "I was hoping that you'd forget about that."

"You're changing the topic."

"Fine, Percy! Okay? I read somewhere—"

"Of course you did," said Leo.

She rolled her eyes and continued. "Anyways, I read in one of the Athena cabin's books that—I'm not sure if it's true, though, and that book was written by a demigod—but it said that to prevent people from using it after Achilles, Zeus put some sort of extra curse on it. So, if you have the curse of Achilles, which Percy did, and if someone knows how to, they could, potentially, be able to remove the curse from the person, as well as the rest of their demigod abilities."

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked worriedly. "Could it…kill him?"

"No," Annabeth shook her head rapidly. "It can't do that. It might, for example, take away his powers over water, his ADHD, and dyslexia."

"Taking away the ADHD and dyslexia?" Percy asked. "Isn't that good?"

Annabeth shrugged. "It depends on how you look at it, Seaweed Brain. Sure, you'd be able to do better in school, since you could pay more attention, focus, and read more easily. On the other hand, though, you wouldn't be able to read Greek, probably, and your battle reflexes and ability to create strategies would most likely deteriorate. The scent that monsters track you by—it'd leave. Basically, it might strip you of being a demigod."

"But that's not possible," Jason countered. "He's Poseidon's son…you can't just change who his parent is."

"That's true," Annabeth agreed. "By the very loosest definition, he'd be a demigod, since Poseidon would still be his father. I'm not sure if he'd be able to eat godly food or pass into camp on his own, but the water-controlling thing? It'd be gone. His demigod scent? Gone. Fighting skills? He'd probably be a lot worse. All the main defining characteristics of a demigod would be gone."

"But…that's still not possible," Piper said. "You can't just un-teach him how to use a sword, or take away his dyslexia."

"I don't know if it would actually do any of that. In the book, it said that it'd just take away all of his 'demigod characteristics and powers.' I don't know what'd happen, since it never has happen. After Achilles, only two people have taken on the curse of Achilles, and one's dead, and I'm pretty sure no one used it on him. Anyway, it seems like Gaea still wants him to be a demigod, since his ADHD is definitely still here, as well as his skills with a sword," Annabeth said, referring to how Percy had fought earlier with his sword when they were freeing Nico, and how he was tapping out random rhythms with the pen form of Riptide onto her backpack. Annabeth nudged him to stop before continuing. "Maybe she just wanted to take away his water powers, and she figured a way to pick and choose what powers to take away," Annabeth said.

"But, still…" Piper trailed off.

"I know, I didn't believe it at first, either, since it just seemed…impossible, I guess. But nothing's really impossible with the gods, right? They're gods—of course they'd be able to do something like this," Annabeth sighed.

"At least now we know that she can't take anyone else's powers away," Percy said glumly. "That's good."

Annabeth sighed. "Sorry, Seaweed Brain, for not telling you earlier. I just wasn't sure it'd happen, since you still had your powers, and I didn't want to freak you out just in case it turned out to be a hoax."

"It's okay," Percy mumbled.

"Do we have a plan?" Nico asked suddenly.

Everyone turned to look at him. "What?" Piper asked him.

"Look, I get that it's sad that Percy can't control water anymore. But, he can still fight, and we shouldn't worry about that power going until and unless that happens. We need a plan for this fight? Do we have one? Do we even know what's going on here—like who is here and what they're doing?"

For one of the youngest, Nico was pretty mature. Well, he looked to be about twelve or thirteen, but a few months ago, Annabeth had mentioned something about being stuck in time for several decades, so she really didn't know how old he was. But, nevertheless, despite his youthful outward appearance, he seemed to be quite knowledgeable and mature.

Annabeth shook her head. "We don't have a plan and don't really know about what's going on here. We should come up with a plan, though. I was thinking that, maybe, we could—" she was interrupted by the door the room banging open.

Several empousai stood in the doorway. The demigods were up in a flash and had their weapons out in less time.

"That works too," Annabeth muttered, before the fight began.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**It's late, and I'm tired, so this will be quick. First of all, at the end of Chapter 27, it said that they saw "a lone demigod [standing] in the doorway," and it's not Annabeth. So, I realized I never actually said who that was, but I guess I forgot, and so did you guys... hehe, sorry about that. Anyway, check out the end of that chapter, because I added a little.**

**Second, this story has only four (or five, depending on wether I split the last chapter into two parts) chapters left. This chapter 'packed a punch' (I hope you think so, at least), and the rest should too, as well as being more action-filled. Thanks so much to all you lovely readers, and again to all those who've reviewed, favorited, and followed. Please review and tell me what you think, since a lot was explained and happened in this chapter.**

**(Whoops, I realize this AN isn't really that short. Anyways...bye, and have a great day (or night, depending on where you live...)! :))**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	31. Leo XXXI

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns HOO, the HOO characters, PJO, the PJO characters, and the Mark of Athena book. I do not.**

**Enjoy! :)  
**

* * *

Chapter 31

LEO

* * *

The fighting was a blur to Leo at first. The monsters—dracanae, empousai, hellhounds, and even a couple of Cyclops were jammed in the doorway, trying to shove past each other and barge into the room.

At least the small doorway only allowed for one, or two monsters at the most to come through, making it easy for the demigods to defend themselves.

Annabeth and Percy guarded the entrance hacking and slashing monsters as they came in. Whenever a monster got past Percy and Annabeth, which was uncommon, but still happened, Jason stood waiting for it. Frank and Leo stood on either side of Jason, shooting arrows and fireballs at the monsters that were still packed in the hallway, trying to get in.

Piper took the diplomatic approach: coaxing the enemy into either leaving the building or to attack other monsters. On some of the weaker-willed monsters, it worked, thinning the crowd slightly, but small army of monsters still remained.

Hazel, on the other hand, was crouched in the corner of the room with her hands over her ears in deep concentration.

She'd waved off Nico's offers of help several times, claiming she was better at tunnels than him, or something like that.

That left Nico with the job of shifting between helping out Annabeth and Percy by the door and aiding Jason with the few monsters that ventured into the room.

Their system was working—so far, at least—but it wasn't going to last forever. They'd tire eventually, and the stream of monsters was seemingly endless.

"ANNABETH?" Jason's voice rose above the sound of flying arrows, Piper's charmspeak, and metal hitting metal.

"What? Are you guys okay?" Annabeth asked. She couldn't spare a glance in their direction, unless she wanted to be injured by a monster.

"No, no, it's not that. We're all fine; don't worry. We need a better plan. We'll only be able to keep this up for so long before we start getting tired," Jason said.

"I know!" Annabeth shouted. "There's just too many! Hazel, how long do you think it'll take for you to get us a way out of here?"

Hazel's eyes snapped open at the mention of her name. "Uh, I don't know! Where do you want us to end up? Outside, or inside the building and nearby, or inside and far away?"

"Uh, last one, please!" Annabeth replied, blocking the strike of a monster that would've hit Percy's unprotected back.

"Ten minutes, maybe? Five, if Nico has some sort of underground powers. Do you?" she directed the last question at Nico, who shrugged.

"I can try," he said.

"Won't they know our plan now, though?" Leo muttered to Piper, whose throat had gone dry from yelling, causing her to get a drink of water.

Piper nodded. "Well, yeah, since they understand English. But they don't exactly know where 'far away' is, though? They're going to make it way harder for us to escape though. There's nothing we can do about that, though…"

She shrugged and returned to her charmspeaking, which was having less and less of an effect as monsters started to understand what she was doing.

Leo sneezed from all the golden monster dust that was floating around. If this was only the part of Gaea's army stationed in this one building in Rome, Leo was not anxious to meet the rest when they inevitably fought in Greece.

Leo was glad he could leave all the up-close fighting to Annabeth, Percy, and Jason. Though he could fight pretty well with a hammer, he definitely did more damage at long distance fighting with his fire abilities.

Out of the corner of his eye, though, he noticed Frank edging farther and farther away from Leo, basically as far as he could go while still being able to shoot at monsters and not crash into a wall.

Leo jumped backwards and almost into a monster that Jason was fighting when he saw the hole open in the side of the room that Hazel and Nico were in.

They too had moved back and were now peering into the tunnel.

Hazel muttered something to Nico, who nodded, and they both closed their eyes again.

Leo re-focused on the fight in front of him, and left the children of Hades/Pluto to do whatever fancy tunnel-making things they were doing.

He grinned in satisfaction after nailing a huge hellhound and the empousa next to it with small balls of fire.

Percy and Annabeth had mastered their technique for preventing monsters (or, at least, most of them) from entering the room.

Annabeth stood just out of sword distance from Percy, allowing him to slash his sword back and forth, and back and forth across the doorway.

Whatever monsters weren't sliced to dust by Riptide got stabbed with Annabeth's dagger, since she stood on the opposite side of the doorway and a little farther into the room.

"Done!" Hazel exclaimed, as she and Nico opened their eyes and sat back on their heels.

Annabeth jerked her head towards the hole almost imperceptibly, her eyes briefly scanning over all the other demigods (bar Percy) as she did so.

Jason nodded slightly, understanding what she was trying to convey. He sliced the empousa in front of him into dust and whacked a Hellhound in front of Frank's bow, just as he launched an arrow.

The Hellhound was sent to Tartarus before it even hit the floor.

He sprinted to the whole, dragging Piper with him as he went. They clambered down after Hazel and Nico, who had disappeared into the tunnel only seconds earlier.

Frank made his way over more slowly, notching and loosing arrows as he did.

Leo stayed behind for a little to help Annabeth and Percy, even though he knew Annabeth probably meant for all of the rest of the demigods (excluding her and Percy) to go first.

Though he could fear his energy rapidly draining, and knew he wouldn't last for another five minutes, Leo threw fireballs at the enemy faster, if that was even possible.

Annabeth and Percy continued their technique of fighting off monsters to prevent them from coming inside. Even though they were trained and skilled fighters, they couldn't last forever and would tire soon.

Leo wished he knew what Annabeth's plan was.

The first part of it was for Hazel to dig a tunnel out of there, since Hazel had said that the room they were in was actually underground.

The others had gone in, and Leo was waiting for Percy and Annabeth to follow suit, but they were still just fighting.

Suddenly Annabeth yelled something Leo couldn't quite decipher and re-joined Percy in the doorway. The two killed monsters as fast as they could before Annabeth shoved Percy out of the doorway and slammed the door shut. She dragged a nearby rock in front of the door, but it would probably break open any second. They needed to get out of there fast.

She grabbed Percy's hand and was about to run and follow the others when she noticed Leo, just standing there, having tired himself out with too much fire usage.

She motioned for him to follow and when he stood still and just blinked at her, still processing what she'd done in the span of less than ten seconds, she grabbed his arm too and dragged both boys toward the tunnel.

Annabeth hopped in, shortly followed by Percy, with Leo bringing up the rear.

Leo blinked at the sudden darkness, waiting a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light.

Annabeth and Percy were panting slightly, making Leo feel just how tired he was. Actually, forget tired—he was completely and utterly exhausted. Usually, he never tried to use nearly as much fire as he just had.

Hazel quickly screwed her eyes just and moved both her hands toward each other a little, causing the hole above their heads to seal itself up.

Now Leo couldn't see a thing, and he knew there probably wasn't much to see.

"Why did you—" Jason started.

"Let's get going," Annabeth suggested. "It won't take them too long to figure out that hole was recently covered up. You can talk on the way, Jason."

Leo felt the person behind him nudge him forward gently, and he trudged forward, wishing they could just stop and take a nice, long nap.

"So," Jason started again, "as I was saying before, why did you take so long? I thought you guys would be jumping down right behind us, as soon as you shut the door."

"Well, it's kind of hard to shut a door that a hundred monsters are trying to cram themselves through, oh, and they're also trying to kill you, or at least severely injure," Percy muttered.

"You could've let us help," Jason retaliated.

"Hey," Percy said, "I didn't—"

"Both of you are giving me a headache," Annabeth said loudly. "Can you please just stop arguing, for like a second? Gods, Piper, how did you put up with them when we got separated earlier."

Piper coughed. "I just…they didn't really argue much…after I, uh, yelled at them about it."

Leo wasn't sure where Annabeth was exactly, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to see her, but he was pretty sure she grinned at that.

"It's too dark in here," Leo complained.

"See, Leo, that's why you need a glow-in-the-dark magical sword. They're awesome," said Percy.

Leo turned around, since that's where Percy's voice had been coming from.

Percy's sword was uncapped and illuminated some of the area around it, including his grinning face (and Annabeth, who was also smiling, which meant he was right—she'd laughed at Piper's comment, or she'd laughed at his complaint…).

Leo rolled his eyes and turned back to the front, bumping into a wall as he did so. Percy snickered.

"Hey, Repair Boy," Piper called from somewhere near the front of the group. "Don't you have a flashlight or something in that magical tool belt of yours?"

"Oh, yeah," said Leo, now grinning. He could just imagine Piper rolling her eyes at him right about then.

After retrieving it from his tool belt, Leo clicked it on.

It was pretty small flashlight that didn't give off much light, but at least it provided some light, so he wouldn't be crashing into more tunnel walls anytime soon (unless he turned around again).

"Are we there yet?" Leo whined. "I'm really tired."

"Yes, Leo, we're almost there. And secondly, you're not the only one who's tired. We've all been working just as hard as you, and it'd be nice if you would just stop complaining to the rest of us about how hungry or sleepy you are, because we are just as tired as you. We just don't whine about it all the time," Hazel snapped.

Leo was taken aback. He hadn't really thought about it like that—he was just trying to make someone laugh. Plus, Hazel never snapped or yelled or got angry with anyone, really. She was also always calm and patient with people.

She must've realized the same thing, for a few seconds later a sincere apology came his way. "I'm sorry, Leo. It's just that I'm tired, and not really thinking straight. I didn't mean to be rude. Sorry."

"No, uh, it's okay," Leo said. "It's my fault, really. You're right, I've been whining way too much."

"We're here," Hazel announced a few minutes later.

One by one, the eight demigods climbed out of the underground tunnel and into the room above.

It wasn't really a room, though—more like a chamber. The entire thing was carved out underground, and instead of having real walls like the room they'd been in previously had, this one's rooms, ceiling, and floor was just earth. The only way to leave was through the hole Hazel had made, which struck Leo as odd.

Someone had made the room, but why was there no door, then?

"We might as well spend the night here," Annabeth sighed. "We're all tired. Hazel and Nico need rest, too, since they're probably going to have to make us a tunnel out of here tomorrow morning."

The daughter of Athena set her backpack down and sat next to it, leaning against her boyfriend, who had also dropped his stuff.

The rest followed suit. Leo set his stuff down near Jason and Piper's. Nico didn't have anything with him, so he just sat down on his own, a little ways away from Hazel and Frank.

Hazel set her jacket and bag next to Frank's belongings, and waved Nico over when she saw he was sitting alone.

Leo yawned and slumped against the wall, giving Jason and Piper a few feet of space, just in case they wanted to talk.

He was about to close his eyes and sleep, like a couple others had already done, when something shiny caught his eye. It came from the corner of the room near the tunnel entrance, where no one was sleeping

No one else had noticed it yet.

Curious as to what it was, Leo made his way over to it. As he got closer, he noticed its gold color, and after sitting down next to it, he realized it actually was a small nugget of gold.

It was the size of a small grape, which was still pretty big for some random gold lying around in an underground gave in an abandoned building/monster headquarters in Rome. Leo picked it up, just to make sure it was actually gold, when he heard someone walk towards him.

The person was Hazel, and she was probably curious as to what he was doing.

She couldn't see what he was holding yet. "What's that?" she asked, craning her neck to get a better look.

"Oh," Leo replied, showing her. "Isn't it cool? I found some gold."

Hazel's eyes widened. "No, Leo, drop that!"

"What?" Leo asked, obviously confused. "Why? It's just some gold I found on the ground. Look—"

Hazel smacked Leo's hand, causing the nugget to fall to the ground.

"Why did you do that?" Leo asked.

"Just, please, if you see any other metals around here—gold, silver, anything like that, please just leave them on the floor. Don't touch them."  
"What do you mean? They're just—"  
"Leo, please listen to me." Hazel sighed. "Don't touch them. Trust me."

"Okay." Leo stood up. "At least tell me why not."  
Everyone had gathered around the two by then, and they all looked like they wanted to hear the story as well.

Hazel explained her entire story. Like, absolutely everything: from her mother, to Alaska and her curse, to dying and meeting Nico years and years later, then being reborn and going to Camp Jupiter.

By the way she avoided everyone's eyes when she talked about her life in New Orleans, Leo figured she was hiding something. But it didn't really matter, at that point. It most likely wasn't that important, and she was already telling them enough. It was probably really hard for her.

Everyone stayed deadly silent. No one, not even Leo, dared to interrupt when she was being so honest with the rest about all the secrets in her life.

The curse. _The curse._

Gods, there was a _curse_.

Anyone who picked up one of Hazel's gems would be severely injured or die very, very soon.

And Leo had.

He'd picked up one of her gems.

And oh gods, now the curse would affect him.

Meaning, he'd die.

And he'd die soon.

Very soon.

He couldn't help but be overdramatic about the whole thing, since he was so scared.

Hazel started crying, and surprisingly, it was Annabeth who comforted her, not Frank, Nico, or Percy.

Piper saw Leo needed hug as well, so she provided it.

She yelped and jumped back a few seconds later, however.

"What?" Leo asked, confused again.

"You're smoking!" Piper pointed.

"What?" Leo asked again, even more bewildered than he'd been before.

"Leo, you're on fire," Annabeth supplied calmly.

"What? Oh, sorry!" Leo jumped around the room. His energy was drained, though. He hadn't even noticed that he'd set himself on fire, and he definitely didn't have enough energy to stop it.

The memories of the workshop fire poured back into his mind.

'_Going to kill your friends now, too, Leo?_' Leo dimly heard Gaea's voice say. The others didn't seem to notice; they were too busy backing away and yelling at Leo to calm down.

'_You can't even control your own powers. You are the weakest one of them all, the oddball—the outcast,' _muttered Gaea sleepily.

Leo tuned her out to the best of his ability and tried to focus on the task at hand. What were you supposed to do when your clothes caught on fire, again? Ah, he had to drop and roll.

He proceeded to do so, but hadn't been looking where he dropped to, and when he stood up (no longer on fire), Leo realized he'd set fire to Hazel's jacket, which was lying on the ground.

Hazel screamed, but Leo didn't see what the big deal was—it was just a jacket. At least Leo hadn't burned any demigods.

Percy and Frank seemed to be pretty freaked out, too. For some reason, Frank fell to the ground, clutching his head.

Percy cursed and yanked Annabeth's bag from the corner, opening it and taking out her water bottle in one swift movement.

Hazel was already trying to stamp out the flames and even attempting to pull something out from her jacket, which wasn't working very well.

Annabeth, meanwhile, was seeing what was wrong with Frank, and Jason and Piper just stood rooted in their spots, looking just as confused as Leo felt.

Percy dumped the water on Hazel's jacket, quenching most of the fire, and Hazel stamped the rest out.

She yanked something out of her jacket just as Frank passed out. Jason and Piper headed to Frank and Annabeth to see what was going on. Hazel and Percy sprinted over, with Hazel's precious possession from her jacket in tow.

Leo didn't move. He felt dizzy. The room blurred.

_'Rest, young _hero, _rest,'_ Gaea's voice returned.

"Leo!" Piper screamed.

And that's all he could remember.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**It's late, so all I want to say is that next week's update will either come in late or not happen at all, since I might not have access to a computer, and if I do, I probably won't have any time to write a chapter. I hope this long(er) chapter makes up for it. As always, constructive criticism is welcomed (and compliments :)), and feel free to point out many mistakes, and I'll check them out. Please review! It means a lot to me, really. Thanks for reading! Also, thanks to those who've favorited, followed, and/or reviewed!**

**-smileyface9 :)**


	32. Frank XXXII

**Author's Note: My apologies for the late update, but school has been hectic. I hope to finish this story before summer, and I think I will, since after this, there's only two more chapters left. Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoy it, and please review.**

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Chapter 32

Frank

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As he regained consciousness, Frank was aware of several concerned faces invading his personal space.

He made an attempt to sit up, but the throbbing in his head and the 'oh-no-you-don't' look Hazel had on made him rethink that.

"What?" Frank rubbed his eyes sleepily. A nap sounded really good right about then…

Annabeth shoved a canteen of nectar to his lips. "Here. Drink," she ordered.

Frank complied and managed to gulp some of the godly drink down. It tasted spectacular, as usual.

"Gonna die, gonna die," Leo muttered. Frank couldn't' see where the annoying son of Hephaestus was, so he craned his neck to the left, where it sounded like his voice was coming from.

Leo was still muttering and occasionally shot a glance in Frank's direction.

Frank's eyes widened and he coughed. "I'm going to die?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No. Leo is talking about himself. He's not going to die, either, though." She sent a pointed look in Leo's direction.

"What…why does he think that? What happened?" Frank asked.

"You don't remember?" Hazel asked, concerned.

"Well, I remember collapsing. I meant _why_ did it happen?" Frank clarified.

Percy cleared his throat, and held up a mostly burnt piece of wood about the size of Frank's thumb from the joint in the middle to the tip. Also known as not that big.

"It…" Frank's eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what had happened. "How? Why?" Why aren't I dead, or why isn't my soul nonexistent, then?"

"Hazel stamped out the fire and I dumped Annabeth's water onto it. You blacked out, though, since it burned so much of your stick," Percy explained.

Frank bit his lip and glanced around at the others. "Do they…?"

Percy nodded uncomfortably. "Hazel and I told them. I know it wasn't our place to tell, really, but I figured…."

Frank shook his head. "No, that's fine. I'd have told them now anyway." He turned to Annabeth, Piper, Jason, and Nico, ignoring Leo, who was still muttering in the corner. "I should've told you already. I'm sorry. It should've been obvious with that whole line about 'secrets untold' and everything in the prophecy."

"It's—it's okay," Piper reassured him.

Leo's muttering became louder. "Why does he think he's going to die?" Frank asked curiously.

"Ah, well, another secret," Annabeth said uncomfortably.

"You know… my curse," Hazel elaborated, making hand gestures. "Leo picked up something he shouldn't have, and well… now he thinks he's going to die. He might not—he might just have a string of bad luck, or maybe—maybe nothing will happen. I tried to warn him, but…I guess I should've just told you guys about everything earlier."

"How long was I out?" Frank asked.

"Six hours, I think. We all slept for a while, though," Piper supplied. "Leo woke up about an hour before you and ever since then, he's been muttering and pacing about how he's going to die when he's clearly NOT GOING TO."

She directed that last word to Leo, who barely spared the time to look over at her and glare before resuming his pacing.

Piper rolled her eyes and huffed, turning away from the son of Hephaestus.

"What are we going to do now, then?" Frank asked. "I mean, we've spent a while here, so—"

"No," Hazel interrupted. "You and Leo both need to rest a little more. If one-quarter of us aren't in the best shape, that won't help. We'll stay here a couple more hours and push off after that."

"But—" Frank started.

"No buts, mister," Hazel said, like a parent scolding a child.

"Just try to get some sleep," Annabeth instructed tiredly. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted, even though I already got a few hours of sleep while Frank and Leo were out."

"Good idea," Percy muttered, sliding down against a wall next to Annabeth.

Everyone found their own little sleeping area in the room, even Leo, who had tired himself out with all the walking.

Frank decided to sleep where he was, since the spot was now pretty comfortable.

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Cold hard laughter echoed from somewhere to Frank's right. Or was it his left? He really couldn't tell.

Everything around him was so dark that it didn't even seem black—it seemed colorless, if that was possible.

This…thing he was surrounded in was the 'color' of darkness—true darkness, not the black type. And it scared him. A lot.

'_See, young hero? This is what I have to suffer in. This is where I've had to slumber and sleep for millennia. It's not fair, is it, when the Gods are having so much fun on their _precious_ Mount Olympus, for me to always be stuck here. But, when are they ever fair to anyone, right?' _Frank assumed the voice to be Gaea's.

When Frank said nothing and it appeared like he didn't want to say anything, she continued on: '_After all they do _use _you heroes, and you are their own _children_, after all. They just send you on quest after quest after quest with no breaks. They don't care if you die. They don't value mortal lives, since they are immortal and have perfect lives, doing whatever they want, whenever they want it, without thinking about consequences or anyone else, for that matter. You heroes work so hard—you should be treated better. After all, when you do the gods' dirty work, what do you get? Nothing. They don't kill you. That is all you get for _helping _them, am I correct?'_

Frank once again said nothing. Gaea continued regardless, as if his silence didn't affect her. _If you join my side, I will make sure that each and every one of your friends survives, receives a generous award for their aid, and lives a full, wonderful life. Doesn't that sound better than spending the rest of your limited mortal lives avoiding monsters and doing odd jobs for the ungrateful gods? I might even be able to make you _immortal_ Frank, for helping me. _

"Immortal," Frank muttered. He didn't want to be immortal, if that meant living on while all of his friends died and centuries passed.

Gaea must've thought his mutter meant he was considering it, though, because she laughed. It was a horrible sound.

_ 'Good, young hero. Think about it. I know you will make the right decision, which, obviously, is to join me. I will give you some time to convince your friends, though. However, if they do not agree, there is nothing I can do for them, sadly. If they wish to continue to be pawns of the gods, I cannot do anything about it. You, Frank, would have to fight against your friends. So, I suggest you do a good job in convincing them to join our side. You wouldn't want to kill them, would you? And I know you especially have a soft spot for that daughter of Pluto… what's her name again…ah, Hazel, right? It's Hazel, isn't it?'_

Frank just nodded.

_'Good, young hero. Convince your friends quickly, now. We don't have all too much time. At least now I have two of you on my side…you shall leave now.'_

Frank was just about to ask how he was supposed to leave, since he hadn't brought himself there and didn't even know where he was, when he snapped awake.

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"Frank, come on, I have something to tell all of you guys," Percy said, shaking Frank awake.

"What? Okay, I'm up," Frank yawned, standing up and stretching.

"Good, then wake the others," Percy instructed.

Annabeth was already up too and waking Piper.

Frank padded over and gently shook Hazel and then Nico awake.

Hazel looked confused and Nico looked downright murderous after he woke them up, until he explained that Percy had something important that he wanted to tell them all.

Hazel sighed. "I wonder if this is about the prophecy."

"It probably is, with our luck," Nico muttered. "I just hope it isn't too bad."

Once everyone was settled in a large circle in the middle of the room, Percy started talking: "So, I had a dream after I slept, except it wasn't really a dream. When I was there, I couldn't remember it from ever before, but I still had some same sense of déjà vu. After a while of just standing there in the dream, I had a flashback or something. I was walking into that same room, and I sat down in a table. I can't remember what I was doing there or how I even got to there. The room resembles some in this building, so I think it was maybe from when I was captured. I still can't really remember it, though."

No one said anything, and Percy sighed.

"Any thoughts? Anyone?" Percy asked, intently watching every person in the circle, one after the other.

"Well, unless there was godly interference or you hit your head, there's no reason for you to lose any memories," Jason said.

"Can you remember everything else?" Piper asked.

Percy nodded in confirmation. "Everything."

Everyone around the circle pretty much said they had no clue why he'd lost a memory.

Annabeth was biting her lip when Percy turned to look at her.

"Annabeth?" he asked quietly. "What do you think? Have you ever read anything at camp that mentions something like this?"

She looked lost in deep thought for a few seconds for shrugging. "I mean, selective memory loss?" she said. "I've never heard of a case of partial memory loss unless you've been through a traumatic event recently, or have had godly interference, as Jason said. I mean, there could be something… but… I don't know. You said you remember everything else, right?"

"Yeah," Percy nodded. "I remember this entire trip perfectly, and the quest with Frank and Hazel. I can even remember stuff before that, from back at Camp, though those aren't as clear as they were before Hera took the memories."

"Well, there's one thing. I read about it at camp a few years ago, but I really didn't think much about it, since I didn't think it could happen to anyone at camp at the time. See, what it said is that—"

Percy leapt clumsily to his feet.

Annabeth stood up as well and took a steep back, almost nervously. "Percy…what—"

He took three steps forward, toward the wall. It didn't seem right, though. His eyes were glazed over and the steps seemed unsure and clumsy, like those of a toddler first learning to walk.

He reached the wall and put his hand against it for support, before cautiously turning around again.

"Percy, can you hear me right now?" Annabeth asked, taking a step forward with her hands out in front of her.

His head snapped towards the direction of her voice, and he cocked his head to the side in a silent question before shaking his head and turning toward Jason.

His eyes narrowed and he pulled his sword-pen Riptide out of his pocket.

Jason jumped to his feet with his eyes wide, as did everyone else.

"Percy—what are you—" Jason started, obviously confused like everyone else in the room.

Percy uncapped Riptide.

Jason backed away and held his right hand up, but kept his left one dangling by his side, just in case he needed to grab his spatha, which was lying on the floor next to his feet.

Percy stumbled, his eyes wide, but he regained his footing before he fell to the floor. When he looked at the sword in his hand and then at Jason, he cocked his head to the side again, like he was confused and didn't know what he was doing.

Jason took that as a change to cautiously pick up his weapon. "Listen, Percy, I don't know what you're doing, but I really don't want to have to—"

Percy lunged, and Jason was forced to bring up his sword to block it.

"What the-?" Leo muttered.

"PERCY! Snap out of it!" Annabeth yelled. Percy turned to look at her in confusion, and Jason took that as a chance to disarm him and kick the weapon to the other side of the room, where Leo picked it up warily.

"Annabeth?" Percy whispered hoarsely, his eyes still a little unfocused. He eyed Jason's spatha and fighting stance and noticed his sword in Leo's hands. "What happened?"

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**Hope you liked it, and please review. Thanks for reading! :)**

**-smileyface9 :)**


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